Allied Forces North Norway (NON) was activated in 1962 along with Allied Forces South Norway (SONOR) and Allied Forces Baltic Approaches. Unlike most other NATO commands NON was a staffed entirely by members of the Norwegian Armed Forces. Its operational headquarters was located in a bunker at Reitan, which today is used as the Norwegian Joint Headquarters. The commander of NON had three deputies: Commander Land Forces North Norway, Commander Air Forces North Norway, and Commander Naval Forces North Norway. Each of the three deputies commanded the Norwegian units of his service branch based in District Command North Norway [no]. Incoming allied units would have come under the command of these three deputy commanders.[1]
Structure in 1989
NON had the following units at its disposal to fight an attack by the Soviet Union's 6th Army:
Allied Forces North Norway (NON), commanded by a Norwegian lieutenant general:[2]
Naval Forces North Norway (NAVNON) was tasked with the defence of Northern Norway's coastal waters against Soviet naval incursions and amphibious landings. Operations in the ocean beyond Norway's coastal waters were under the command of NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic's (SACLANT) Northern Sub-Area Command (NORLANT). Therefore NAVNON consisted of coastal artillery units and one fast attack craft squadron. The boats for the fast attack craft squadron were dispatched from units in Southern Norway on a rotational basis.
Commander Naval Forces North Norway (NAVNON), commanded by a Norwegian rear admiral:
Search and Rescue Detachment from the 330th Helicopter Squadron with 2x Sea King Mk43
Norwegian Adapted Hawk air-defense battery with 3x Hawk launchers and 3x 40mm L/70 radar-guided anti-aircraft guns at Evenes Air Station to defend the vital airport and harbor at Narvik
Brigade 6 (Norwegian Home Guard District 6 mobilization unit) in Hønefoss in Eastern Norway, equipment pre-positioned in Northern Norway
1st Infantry Battalion
2nd Infantry Battalion
3rd Infantry Battalion
Field Artillery Battalion with M114 155 mm towed howitzers
Reconnaissance Squadron
US Marine Corps Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB) Prepositioning Program material at the Bjugn Cave FacilityUSS Guadalcanal during Exercise Teamwork '92.
NATO would have planned to reinforce Allied Forces North Norway with 2–7 days with the following allied formations:
Allied Land Forces:[3][4]
Royal Navy: 3 Commando Brigade including 1 Amphibious Combat Group and Whiskey Company of the Netherlands Marine Corps.[5] The brigade trained annually in Northern Norway and had large stores of vehicles and supplies pre-positioned there.
U.S. Marine Corps: the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade of the II Marine Amphibious Force (also known as Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB)) had its equipment pre-positioned in eight purpose-built caves near the Værnes Air Station in Trondheim in central Norway. The eight caves contained material for 15,000 troops and war stocks for 30 days. Three of the caves held ground equipment, three munitions and two held aviation support equipment for two air defense and two ground attack squadrons, as well as for 75 heavy transport and light support helicopters.[6][7] Exercise Teamwork, held every two years during the 1980s, practiced reinforcement of Norway. After that point Exercise Battle Griffin was held in 1993 and 1996.
^Till, Geoffrey (1988). Britain and N. A. T. O.'s Northern Flank. London: MacMillan Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-333-43931-9.
^Lund, John (1989). Don't Rock The Boat - Reinforcing Norway in Crisis and War (PDF). Washington DC: Rand Corporation. ISBN 0-8330-0960-5.
^ a bNordic Forces in the 1980s CIA
^ a bTill, Geoffrey (18 June 1988). Britain and N. A. T. O.'s Northern Flank. ISBN 9781349094318. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
^"Marine Corps • Korps Mariniers (KMARNS)".
^Cavas, Christopher P. (September 20, 2015). "Cave-Dwellers: Inside the US Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway". Washington DC: US Department of Defense.
^ a b"Status of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program in Norway" (PDF). US Government Accounting Office. US Government. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
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