The new NATO Arctic Air Operations Center will be temporarily located at the Norwegian Air Force base in Bodø, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Defense.

Last December, NRK reported that the new NATO Arctic Air Operations Center may be located in Norway. Possible locations for the center included Bodø, Rygge and Ørland.

“The government has started work to prepare the armed forces base in Bodø for the temporary deployment of a third NATO Air Operations Center,” the report says.

It is noted that several hundred personnel will be stationed at the temporary center for several years, until a permanent facility is completed. To support this effort, the Norwegian government is allocating an additional 438 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $42 million). A final decision on the location of the permanent center – currently narrowed down to Bodø or Rygge – will be made at a later date, according to NRK.

NATO already has joint air operations centers in Germany and Spain.

In early September 2024, Aid to the Russian President, Chairman of the Maritime Board Nikolai Patrushev said that Washington and its allies continue to escalate tensions along Russia’s borders, routinely testing its defense capabilities. Patrushev emphasized that the United States is pursuing a strategy of militarizing the Arctic and obstructing Russia’s economic activities in the northern regions.

In recent years, Russia has consistently reported an unprecedented level of NATO activity near its western borders. While NATO expands its initiatives calling this “deterrence of Russian aggression,” Moscow has repeatedly voiced its concern with NATO building up its forces in Europe. The Kremlin stressed that the country posed no threat to others but would not ignore moves that could endanger its national interests.