(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[arms exports] According to official Norwegian policy, Norway does not export arms to Taiwan. Now Ny Tid can reveal that Taiwan has got Norwegian high explosives in the rocket engines in its new weapons program.
In the city of Troy, Alabama, Taiwan's new air-to-ground rockets have been screwed together. Half a year's production capacity helped meet the island's need for new weapons, to deter its militarily superior big brother China.
China is on the Foreign Ministry's blacklist of countries Norway cannot export weapons to.
Since Norway does not export weapons to China, and at the same time considers China and Taiwan as one country, it is completely out of date for Norway to sell weapons to the island.
- According to Norway's one-China policy, Taiwan is to be regarded as part of China. Norway does not export weapons to China, nor to Taiwan, says Jonas Gahr Støre's information adviser Frode Overland Andersen.
The United States has a completely different attitude to exporting weapons to Taiwan. The country's military armament has contributed to increased tension with the mainland.
Hellfire's mortality and well-tested combat capabilities, coupled with the ability to hit accurately, will give Taiwan's armed forces the best air-to-ground weapons system in the world, said Mark Stenger, director of Lockheed Martin's Air-to-Ground-Missile division Systems when the news became known last year.
The company Dyno Nobel in Hurum has since delivered 1996 RDX, a military high explosive, to the engines of the Hellfire rockets. This was confirmed by Alliant Tech Systems and Lockheed Martin in the work on Erling Borgen's documentary A Little Piece of Norway.
Alliant supplies the rocket engines to Lockheed Martin's Hellfire rockets, and in turn confirms that they are using Dyno Nobel in Norway as their supplier of RDX.
Representatives from both Lockheed Martin and Alliant have been to Hurum a number of times to inspect the production process.
Dyno Nobel confirmed this winter that the company continues to supply high explosives to Hellfire's rocket engines. Ny Tid has now tried to get the company's comments on the US rocket sales to Taiwan, in light of the fact that the US and Norway have completely different policies in relation to arms sales to the island.
- We are not aware of this, and would not comment if we knew about it, says information director Brad Larson in Dyno.
He emphasizes that Dyno has no habit of commenting on individual contracts, and refers to the Foreign Ministry for comments on the legality of exports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose to answer Ny Tid's questions in writing. The statement from the ministry states:
“When Dyno Nobel issues explosives, an Issuer buys an Own Production Declaration (OPD). It guarantees that the item is not resold or re-exported separately. The explosive has no independent function and is coordinated with other parts and components for end products. These products are not Norwegian. Thus, it is not possible for a supplier of parts and components to ensure complete control of the end product and where it ends up. It is the export control regulations in the country that put together the final product that applies. ".
Requires guarantees
The Norwegian Peace Council believes that the Norwegian authorities must provide end-user guarantees that prevent arms sales to blacklisted countries.
- This case illustrates exactly the point we have been trying to get for years. End-user guarantees must also be required of NATO countries that buy Norwegian weapons, says Babs Sivertsen, general manager of the Norwegian Peace Council, an umbrella organization for peace organizations that has had arms trade as an important working theme since the organization was started.
- When there are no requirements for end-user guarantees, we will see exactly this type of case repeated. Weapons go astray, says Sivertsen.
HELLFIRE ROCKETS:
- Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons company, describes Hellfire as its best seller in anti-armor weapons systems.
- 14 countries have purchased the rocket. The buyer list includes Taiwan, Israel and Norway.
- The rocket recently named Erling Borgen's documentary about Norway's role in recent wars, because it contains "a little piece of Norway", specifically military high explosives of the RDX type from Dyno Nobel in Hurum.
