Norway has chosen the town of Bode, above the Arctic Circle, as the permanent headquarters of NATO's Air Operations Command and Control Center (CAOC), the Norwegian government announced today.
The decision was announced at a time when neighboring Russia is trying to strengthen its power in the Arctic, where it is opening and modernizing military bases.
During a ministerial meeting in February, NATO member states agreed to establish the Alliance's third air command center in Europe in Norway, and tasked Oslo with determining where it would be located.
The choice fell on Bode, where the Norwegian Army's Operations Planning and Conduct Center is located deep in the interior of a mountain.
"The main reason we chose Bode is geopolitical, we wanted NATO to have some kind of anchorage in the north," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Stere told TV2.
The future center, whose opening date has not yet been announced, will be responsible for coordination and air surveillance, as well as planning and conducting NATO air military operations in the region.
The Atlantic Alliance already has two similar centers in Europe, one in Germany and the other in Spain.
Bonus video:
