On Thursday, April 30, 2026, the press service of the Norwegian Armed Forces (Forsvaret) announced that the first two of 54 Leopard 2A8NO tanks ordered from Germany had arrived at the garrison in Rena, eastern Norway, in Åmot municipality, Hedmark county. They will replace the Leopard 2A4NO tanks.
Photos: Forsvaret
“The new vehicle is fully digitized. This means that we can now cooperate more easily with other combat platforms, from the land, sea, and air domains alike. We can then achieve things that we could not achieve before,” explains Øyvind Lillevik, Staff Sergeant at the Norwegian Army Land Warfare Centre.
HVS will now spend a year testing the new Leopard 2A8NO and training its users. The tanks will then begin to be fielded by individual mechanized battalions. The first will be Telemark Battalion (TMBN), followed by the Armored Battalion (PBn) as part of Brigade North (Brigade Nord).
“The biggest difference between today’s Leopard 2A4 and the new Leopard 2A8 is inside the vehicle. I usually say it is like comparing a car without power steering, where you have to roll down the window, with a Tesla,” says Platoon Sergeant Henrik Krogsrud of the Norwegian Army Land Warfare Centre.
To mark the arrival of the tanks, a dynamic demonstration was organized with the participation of Defense Minister Tore Sandvik; Chief of the Norwegian Army Staff (Hæren), Maj. Gen. Trond Nilsen; Head of Land and Joint Capabilities at the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (Forsvarsmateriell, also known by its English name NDMA), Tomas Beck; Head of Army Training at HVS, Brig. Gen. Trond Haande; and the commander of Brigade North, Brig. Gen. Terje Bruøygard.
“The new main battle tanks will maintain our ability to provide credible deterrence and defense together with our allies. The Leopard 2A8 is both a technological achievement and an example of excellent Allied cooperation. In line with the long-term plan, we are increasing Norway’s defense capability, where the whole point is to deter potential adversaries. This new platform raises the threshold for anyone considering attacking Norway,” says Defense Minister Tore O. Sandvik
🇩🇪🇪🇺 Europe’s most advanced tank is entering service.
The Leopard 2A8 has now been showcased in live field trials with the Norwegian Army, marking a major step toward operational deployment.
🇳🇴 Norway will be among the first to field it, with deliveries starting in 2026 and… pic.twitter.com/uf5iVId2uT
— Defence Index (@Defence_Index) May 2, 2026
Leopard 2A8NO for Norway
The imminent transport of the first two Leopard 2A8NO tanks was reported by the German daily Kieler Nachrichten on April 27 this year, when they were photographed before being loaded onto the car carrier Color Fantasy at the port of Kiel.
The first Norwegian tank, named Thomas and still without its user camouflage, was presented together with the first example for the German Bundeswehr on November 19, 2025, at the facilities of the German company KNDS Deutschland, part of the Franco-German joint venture KNDS, in Munich, Bavaria.
Under Project P9360 (Prosjekt 9360 – Stridsvognkapasitet til Hæren), previously known as Project 2050, Norway ordered a total of 54 new Leopard 2A7NO tanks on February 18, 2023, with an option for 18 more, which was later abandoned. On June 13, 2023, the vehicles were redesignated Leopard 2A8NO.
It is worth adding that 17 tanks are being built by KNDS—or essentially, 15 of them still are—while the remaining 37 are to be assembled from German components at the Norwegian Ritek facility in Trøndelag, in Levanger, under an agreement dated June 11, 2024. Deliveries are expected to be completed by 2028.
The Leopard 2A8NO is based on the German Leopard 2A8 model, while also featuring certain Norway-specific elements, such as Norwegian communications and the Kongsberg ICS/CORTEX battlefield management system (Integrated Combat System/Command and Control, Battle Management & Situational Awareness), as well as FACNAV/norBMS from Teleplan Globe.
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As an interesting detail, visible in the transport photographs, the Norwegian Leopards have received modified lightweight ballistic side skirts fitted with transport containers that carry winter track grousers, reflecting user requirements related to Norway’s climate.
The baseline Leopard 2A8 is equipped with the Israeli Trophy HV hard-kill active protection system (APS) and has a combat weight of around 68–69.5 tonnes. The vehicle is 8.05 m long, or 11.17 m with the gun, 3.8 m wide, and 2.72 m high to the turret roof, or 3.13 m to the periscope.
Close-up of the Norwegian Leopard 2A8NO. The Trophy APS radar installation on the front of the turret is huge. pic.twitter.com/RVSirvfeR7
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) May 1, 2026
The vehicle has received improved situational awareness and communications systems, as well as a new fire-control system. Reinforced armor has been applied to the turret roof, intended to provide additional protection against shaped-charge submunitions from cluster munitions. In addition, the main armor has been replaced with third-generation multilayer composite armor made of high-hardness steel, tungsten, plastic filler, and ceramic components.
Interestingly, there was originally also mention of a new 1,600 hp powerpack, replacing the current 1,500 hp unit, but from the same supplier, MTU, with a hydropneumatic transmission system from Renk. So far, however, there has been no confirmation on this matter. The main armament remains the 120 mm Rh-120/L55A1 smoothbore gun, with increased maximum barrel pressure from 670 to 700 MPa compared with the older L44, which is 130 cm shorter. The gun is adapted to fire DM11 programmable ammunition and DM63/DM63A1 APFSDS rounds with a 4.6 kg penetrator, 26 mm in diameter and 685 mm long, as well as the latest KE2020Neo APFSDS ammunition. Barrel life remains unchanged at 1,500 rounds. The tank has also received a 20 kW auxiliary power unit (APU), compared with 17 kW in older vehicles.