The procurement of the radars that will monitor Norwegian and nearby airspace, approved by Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament) in June 2019, will require close cooperation between key players such as the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA), The Norwegian Defense Estates Agency (NDEA), the Defense Staff (FST), the Air Force and the Ministry of Defence.
The project consists of a technology acquisition with associated property, building and construction measures. The overall project management responsibility of the procurement will be taken by NDMA, in addition to responsiblity for the technology procurement. Five radar systems are to be established in new locations, while three existing radar stations will continue to operate.
Further to the issue of the RFP in 2020, the acquisition contract with Lockheed Martin was signed in November 2022. The first new radar is planned to be in place in 2025, with the remaining seven radars to follow by 2029. All radars will be operational before 2030.
The new radar systems will strengthen Norway's defense capability, and will constitute NATO's eyes in the north. Throughout the acquisition period, NSPA will provide acquisition support services to NDMA in the area of Integrated Logistic Support, Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Testability and Configuration Management (ILS-RAMT-CM).
NSPA has been tasked to enter into a Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) agreement with the same Contractor on behalf of NDMA. The maintenance concept is based on unmanned sites that will be attended to on schedule and when needed. The support will be provided according to a Performance-Based Contractor Logistics Support strategy (PB-CLS contract), together with an organizational maintenance level based at three Regional Maintenance Centres (RMC). NSPA, on behalf of NDMA, will activate the CLS services at the end of the acquisition contract.