FS Marjata is a Norwegian purpose-built electronic intelligence collection vessel (ELINT), [1] which was ordered by the parliament in 2010. It was baptized on 6 December 2014 by Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The ship is manned by crew from the Norwegian Intelligence Service.
The ship is the fourth bearing the name Marjata. The first was operative in the period 1966–1975, the second in the period 1976-1995 and the third 1995-(still operating, but renamed FS Eger). Marjata was intended as the replacement for her predecessor, but it was decided to keep both for the same role. Previously, these ships were called research ships, but the new Marjata is the first to officially conduct intelligence as well. On some missions she has been accompanied by her predecessor, FS Eger; these missions are often intelligence or spy missions. The ship has neither weapons nor helicopters on board. The ship measures 5000 gt, 126 meters long and 23.5 meters wide. [2]
The Norwegian parliament granted in 2009 money to invest in a new intelligence vessel. The Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation announced the project in 2011, and the company Vard Langsten (now Fincantieri) was given the contract after competing with several other Norwegian shipyards. The hull is built by Vard Tulcea in Romania, while Vard Langsten in Tomrefjorden in Romsdal completed the ship. The installment of the technical equipment took place from April to November 2015 at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia. [3]
The vessel had a cost framework of NOK 1.5 billion. Some sources say NOK 1.2 billion, but the cost frame has subsequently increased from 1,246 billion to NOK 1,379 billion. The new ship is 126 meters long and 23.5 meters wide and came into operation in 2016. [4]
When the ship entered service in 2016 the NIS confirmed her homeport would be at Kirkenes, only 7 km from the Norwegian-Russian border.
In 2019 the NIS denied to confirm Kirkenes as her home port when asked by the Norwegian online newspaper aldrimer.no. In July 2020 the Norwegian Ministry of Defence confirmed that Harstad, 334 km to the west, is the new official homeport for the intelligence ship.
Over the last few years, the region of eastern Finnmark county, and Kirkenes in particular, has been troubled by Russian jamming of GPS signals. [5] [6]
NoCGV Svalbard (W303) is a Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel constructed by Langsten at Tangen Verft shipyard in Kragerø and launched on 17 February 2001. She was named 15 December 2001 in Tomrefjord with Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold as godmother, and delivered to the Coast Guard on 18 January 2002. She entered service in mid-2002 and is homeported in Sortland. Her primary operating area is in the Arctic waters north of Norway, the Barents Sea and around the Svalbard islands.
The Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. As of 2008, the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 4 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support vessels and 2 training vessels. It also includes the Coast Guard.
The Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates are a class of frigates that are the main surface combatant units of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The ships are named after famous Norwegian explorers, with the lead ship of the class bearing the name of Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian scientist, explorer and humanitarian. Five ships were ordered from Spanish shipbuilder Bazan.
The Nordkapp class is a Norwegian Coast Guard ship class built in the 1980s, and is used for rescue, fishery inspection, research purposes and general EEZ patrol in Norwegian waters. It is a class of ships purpose-built for the Norwegian Coast Guard with a secondary role as wartime naval escorts. The Norwegian Coast Guard is a part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, and has some police authority.
The Norwegian Coast Guard is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for fisheries inspection, customs enforcement, border control, law enforcement, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and search and rescue. It operates throughout Norway's 2,385,178-square-kilometer (920,922 sq mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ), internal waters and territorial waters. It is headquartered at Sortland Naval Base. In 2013 the Coast Guard had 370 employees, including conscripts, and a budget of 1.0 billion Norwegian krone.
A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship.
The Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov, is a Slava-class cruiser of the Russian Navy. The Russian name for the ship type is Raketnyy Kreyser (RKR), meaning "Missile Cruiser". The ship is named after Dmitriy Ustinov, a former Soviet Minister of Defence. Marshal Ustinov was assigned to the 43rd Missile Ship Division of the Russian Northern Fleet, whose homeport is in Severomorsk. From 2012 to 2016, the cruiser underwent a major overhaul. The vessel returned to service in 2017 and has since been deployed to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) or Etterretningstjenesten (E-tjenesten) is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence.
Berlevåg Airport is a regional airport serving Berlevåg Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The airport is situated 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) northwest of the village of Berlevåg and is owned and operated by Avinor. The airport tower is operated remotely from Bodø.
The Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line, or the Sydvaranger Line, is a 8.5-kilometer (5.3 mi) long railway line between Kirkenes and Bjørnevatn in Sør-Varanger, Norway. Owned by the private mining company Northern Iron, the single-track railway is solely used to haul 20 daily iron ore trains from Bjørnevatn Mine to the port at Kirkenes. It was the world's northernmost railway until 2010, when the Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Line in Russia went further north.
Sydvaranger AS, previously A/S Sydvaranger, is an iron ore mining company in Sør-Varanger, Norway. Since 2015 its mining operations have not restarted yet. Sydvaranger is owned by Tacora resources, and it owns an open-pit mine at Bjørnevatn. Sydvaranger has traditionally hauled the ore with the Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line to Kirkenes for processing and shipping.
Norway–Russia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between the two countries, Norway and Russia. The establishment of diplomatic relationships between the two countries happened on October 30, 1905, four days after the establishment of Norway's independence. Russia has an embassy in Oslo and consulates in Barentsburg and Kirkenes, and Norway has an embassy in Moscow, and consulates in Murmansk and Saint Petersburg. The countries are neighboring each other along a 195.7 km long border.
The Balzam class, Soviet designation Project 1826 is a class of intelligence collection ships built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy during the 1980s. They are also known as Lira class, after the first vessel of the class.
The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, mining gave a revenue of 2.008 billion kr, tourism NOK 317 million and research 142 million. In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700, or 23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only a few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution. The Spitsbergen Treaty and Svalbard Act established Svalbard as an economic free zone and demilitarized zone in 1925.
The border between Norway and Russia consists of a 195.7-kilometer (121.6 mi) land border between Sør-Varanger, Norway, and Pechengsky District, Russia, and a 23.2-kilometer (14.4 mi) marine border in the Varangerfjord. It further consists of a border between the two countries' exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Between 1944 and 1991 the border was between Norway and the Soviet Union. There is a single border crossing, on E105, located at Storskog in Norway and Borisoglebsky in Russia. The Norwegian side is patrolled by the Garrison of Sør-Varanger and is under the jurisdiction of the Norwegian Border Commissioner, while the Russian side is patrolled by the Border Guard Service of Russia. Two-thirds of the border follows two rivers, the Pasvikelva and Jakobselva.
Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Gorshkov is an Admiral Gorshkov class frigate of the Russian Navy and the lead ship of the class.
FS Eger is a purpose-built electronic intelligence collection vessel (ELINT).
The Arctic Railway is a planned railway line linking the Norwegian Arctic port of Kirkenes with the Finnish railway network.
REV Ocean is a privately funded research and expedition vessel (REV) under construction by VARD shipyards.
Type 792 naval trawler is a Chinese auxiliary ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), deployed as intelligence gathering spy ship. Type 792 and its predecessor Type 8154, along with Type 8105 naval trawlers have all received NATO reporting name FT-14 AIT class, meaning Fishing Trawler - 14 Auxiliary Intelligence-gathering Trawler.