Norwegian spy ship "Marjata" deploys to Arctic

[CougarKing]

Doesn't this Norwegian ship look more like an amphib.?

Military.com

Cold War-style Spy Games Return to Melting Arctic

This image made available by the Norwegian Military on Thursday, June 5, 2014 shows a Norwegian vessel passing through the Bosporus in Istanbul Turkey, on March 2, 2014. (AP photo)
Associated Press | Jun 12, 2014 | by Karl Ritter

OSLO, Norway — In early March, a mysterious ship the size of a large passenger ferry left a Romanian wharf, glided through the narrow Bosporus that separates Europe and Asia, and plotted a course toward Scandinavia.

About a month later, at the fenced-in headquarters of Norway's military intelligence service, the country's spy chief disclosed its identity. It was a $250 million spy ship, tentatively named Marjata, that will be equipped with sensors and other technology to snoop on Russia's activities in the Arctic beginning in 2016.

"There is a demand from our political leadership to describe what is going on in this region," Lt. Gen. Kjell Grandhagen said in an interview at the hilltop surveillance base outside Oslo. Of particular interest, he said, are Russia's ambitions to develop oil and gas and shipping opportunities in the Arctic — and the "military aspects in terms of being able to defend that."

(...EDITED)

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Canada's way ahead of them with our stealthmobile

 

[Colin Parkinson]

This is what they are replacing, looks like a ship building program that literally ran out of money  halfway through the build!

 

[Transporter]

This is what they are replacing, looks like a ship building program that literally ran out of money  halfway through the build!

At least they got a keel in the water. We'd still be debating design and capabilities, not to mention having to navigate procurement incompetence.