Department of Defense and Norway Sign Joint Strike Fighter Agreement
January 31, 2007

Norway has signed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) production, sustainment, and follow-on development (PSFD) memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will govern the cooperative program arrangements for the next phase of the Joint Strike Fighter program. The signing ceremony took place in Oslo, Norway, Jan. 31.

In a ceremony at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen added her signature to the agreement already signed by the United States, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. The United States was represented by U.S. Ambassador Benson Whitney.

This MOU provides a framework for future program efforts in production and beyond, and will extend cooperation beyond the current system development and demonstration agreement between the United States and the other eight JSF partner nations. The remaining partner nations, Italy and Denmark, are expected to sign the JSF PSFD MOU in the near future.

The Joint Strike Fighter is the largest DoD acquisition program to date. The F-35 Lightning II is a supersonic, multi-role, stealth fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft. Three versions of the aircraft will be built: a conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant, an aircraft-carrier version and a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version. Norway’s contribution at this time in the first phase of the international program is $92 million.

In addition to preparing for future production and sustainment activities, F-35 Lightning II development efforts are ongoing. The first JSF system development and demonstration test aircraft has already successfully flown six test flights.