Norway to assemble Leopard 2 tanks and plans to enter international market
Of the 54 German-made Leopard 2 tanks ordered by Norway, 37 will be assembled by the Norwegian subcontractor Ritek, which plans to become a Scandinavian center for Leopard maintenance and modernization in the future.
AFP reports this with reference to the country's Ministry of Defense, Ukrinform reports.
Under the agreement with Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the Norwegian company Ritek will become a subcontractor for the German tank manufacturer. In the future, a new production line in Levanger, in western Norway, will likely assemble tanks for other countries. It is also planned that Ritek will become the Scandinavian center for maintenance and modernization of Leopard vehicles.
“This agreement will help strengthen the capacity of NATO and European countries to increase tank production in the future,” the Norwegian ministry said.
In February 2023, the Norwegian government ordered 54 Leopard 2 A8 tanks for a total of NOK 19.7 billion to replace 36 outdated Leopard 2A4 vehicles.
The following month, Norway announced that it had delivered eight Leopard 2A4s to Ukraine.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Norwegian government is allocating up to NOK 150 million ($13.7 million) for the maintenance of Leopard tanks transferred to Ukraine in Poland.