OSLO, June 11 — Norway, which has ordered 54 German-made Leopard 2 tanks, will assemble 37 of them on Norwegian soil and potentially assemble tanks for other countries, the country’s defence ministry said today.

This is the first time that main battle tanks will be assembled in the Nordic country, which is a member of the Nato military alliance and shares a border with Russia in the far north.

Under an agreement with Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Norway’s Ritek will become a subcontractor for the German tank maker.

Its new assembly line in Levanger, western Norway, will also be able to assemble tanks for other countries.

"The agreement will help to strengthen Nato’s and Europe’s capacity to increase the production of tanks in the future,” the ministry said.

The plan is also for Ritek to become a Nordic hub for maintenance and upgrades of the Nordic Leopard fleet.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland all use variants of the Leopard 2 tank in their respective armies.

In February 2023, the Norwegian government ordered 54 Leopard 2 A8s for a total of 19.7 billion kroner (RM8.4 billion), to replace its 36 ageing Leopard 2A4s.

The following month, Norway said it had delivered eight Leopard 2A4s to Ukraine. — AFP