Norway Protests: We Are Having a Real Fighter Competition

The Norwegian air force chief of staff Major General Stein Erik Nodeland is now aggressively combating the idea that Norwas has already decided to buy the F-35 JSF.

This perception is why Eurofighter pulled out of the bid about a year ago, leaving the improved Gripen as the only other competitor.

I think that if one looks at the bid process objectively, there certainly are segements of the Norwegian air defense establishment who have settled on the JSF, to the extent that they are using Lockheed-Martin F-35 powerpoint slides in their presentations, though there are indications that the some members of Parliament are not amused.