Norwegian Defence Research Establishment

Latest from Norwegian Defence Research Establishment

1. News article24 Sept 2026

   Brave Norway defence-tech funding calls delayed by export control rules

   • Brave Norway is a joint Norwegian-Ukrainian programme where both countries contribute €10 million each to develop new defence technology. It was launched in October 2025, with FFI leading the Norwegian side.
   • The planned funding calls – where Norwegian companies could apply for project grants – are now delayed with no firm new date. Brave1 announced this on 24 September 2026.
   BusinessForeign policyNational defence
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2. News article17 Sept 2026

   Norwegian Army drone programme seeks industry information on mature unmanned systems – deadline 15 October 2026

   • Norway's Army drone programme (DPL, FMA and FFI) is asking industry: what mature drone and unmanned systems do you have available right now? The call was published on 17 September 2026.
   • They are looking for three types: surveillance drones (ISR), attack drones (Strike), and systems that can intercept enemy drones (C-UxS).
   BusinessNational defenceNational security
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3. Report14 Sept 2026

   FFI report commissioned by Norway's Ministry of Trade warns that satellite navigation dependency is a cross-sectoral vulnerability requiring six concrete fixes

   • FFI (Norway's Defence Research Establishment) wrote this report for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, examining what happens to Norway when GPS and similar satellite systems stop working.
   • Emergency services – police, fire, ambulance – are hit hardest. Without satellite signals they struggle to navigate and coordinate help, potentially costing lives.
   CybersecurityDigital infrastructureNational security
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4. News article10 Sept 2026

   Norway and Sweden conduct largest-ever joint test of military unmanned ground vehicles with drone support

   • In 2026, Norway and Sweden ran their biggest-ever test of military vehicles that drive without a crew on board (called UGVs). FFI and Sweden's FOI led the test; observers from four other countries attended.
   • The task: remotely steer eight vehicles — backed by surveillance drones and attack drones — through a simulated enemy line to get a Swedish remote-controlled truck safely to a target. Everything was controlled from one command post.
   National defenceNational securityNATO
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5. News article7 Sept 2026

   Eight Norwegian defence-tech companies selected for LINC 2026/2027 to accelerate entry into US and NATO markets

   • This year's LINC programme selects eight Norwegian companies: 3LC.AI trains AI with little data, Aviant delivers cargo by drone, Griff Aviation builds heavy-lift drones aiming to carry 40 kg over 70 km by 2027, Levato makes digital military wargame software, Proxflyer has built a semi-submarine drone called Sea Shadow, Stinger Technology makes underwater drones, Triangula can pinpoint a gunshot in seconds, and Water Linked helps underwater drones and divers navigate.
   • Norway's defence technology sales to the US nearly tripled — from NOK 2.1 billion in 2023 to NOK 5 billion in 2025 — showing how large the opportunity is for Norwegian firms.
   BusinessEntrepreneurshipNational defence
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6. Analysis4 Sept 2026

   FFI researcher: Russia will likely intensify covert recruitment rather than declare open mass mobilisation after autumn 2026 Duma elections

   • President Zelensky says Putin intends to call up 300,000 new soldiers after Russia's parliamentary elections on 18–20 September 2026. Ukrainian intelligence puts the figure as high as 500,000. Russia officially denies it, but insiders have told independent Russian outlets it is being considered.
   • The pressure to recruit is real: Russia is losing soldiers faster than it can replace them, front-line gains have slowed, and Putin has set a year-end 2026 deadline to take full control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
   National defenceRussiaUkraine
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7. Analysis27 Aug 2026

   Op-ed: 'Capability' is Norway's defence jargon for 'thing' — overuse risks real-world misunderstandings

   • The Norwegian word 'kapasitet' (roughly: capacity or capability) appears more than 200 times in each of the last two long-term defence plans. It is used for everything from a helmet to a fighter jet to a whole battalion — without making clear which is meant.
   • When readers have to guess the meaning, misunderstandings become more likely. In a defence context, misunderstandings can hurt results in the field and waste money.
   National defence
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8. News article24 Aug 2026

   Norwegian defence researcher warns: algorithmic gender polarisation online threatens the social trust that total defence depends on

   • Researcher Nina Hellum has spent nearly 20 years studying how women and men work together in the Norwegian Armed Forces. She finds that people who live and work closely together come to understand each other better. Social media do the opposite.
   • Social media platforms are built to keep you scrolling as long as possible. Content that makes you angry or afraid spreads more easily than nuanced views — and gender conflict is perfect for this.
   EqualityMediaNational defence
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9. Analysis20 Aug 2026

   The US is treating frontier AI as fissile material – and Europe risks ending up as a licensee of others' intelligence

   • In June 2026, two things happened: Anthropic was ordered by US authorities to shut its best AI models for everyone outside the US (they were unavailable for weeks), and OpenAI released its new top model GPT-5.6 only to a government-approved list of 'trusted partners'.
   • The author reads this as a sign that the US government views the most powerful AI models the way it views nuclear technology – scarce, dangerous and worth locking down. If they thought AI would soon be widely available anyway, they would not have bothered.
   Artificial intelligenceCybersecurityForeign policy
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10. Report19 Aug 2026

    FFI report: Command and control and data sharing are the weakest links in Norway's shift to multi-domain operations

    • A new FFI report from August 2026, by Stein Malerud, Bodil Farsund and Siv Nergaard, finds that Norway's Armed Forces most urgently need to improve how they command operations quickly and share intelligence across units.
    • Multi-domain operations (MDO) means that army, navy, air force, space assets and cyber units work in close coordination – together with civilian partners – to strike faster and more precisely than today.
    DigitalisationNational defenceNational security
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