New frigates, joint P-8 maritime aircraft patrols and more frequent anti-sabotage elite training were on the table when Norway and the UK on Thursday signed a first-of-its-kind defence agreement that will let the two navies operating side by side in the North Atlantic.

The partnership is designed to protect undersea oil and gas pipelines, as well as cables for data traffic.

Both navies will operate as one – sharing maintenance facilities, technology and equipment to create truly interchangeable forces able to deploy rapidly wherever needed, the British Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

This is the most comprehensive defence agreement in modern times, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence added as the deal was sign by Defence Secretary John Healey and his Norwegian counterpart Tore O. Sandvik at 10 Downing Street on December 4.

“The British presence in the High North plays a crucial role in safeguarding Norwegian and European security,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said after he met his British colleague Keir Starmer in London.

The two prime ministers then flew north to the Royal Airforce base Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland. It is from here British P-8 maritime patrol aircraft are operating when flying missions over the North Sea or further north over the Norwegian and Barents Seas.

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  • bluGill@fedia.io
    2·
    6 hours ago

    They are not that hard to make and you can plan in advance to run ‘exercises’. So normally they might not but when they realize a need they can start putting them in rotation.

    • Ozymandias1688@feddit.orgEnglish
      2·
      5 hours ago

      Funny how simple some weapons are, even relatively modern ones. Depth charges are essentially just like dynamite fishing, but with submarines 😁