Local production underway for Norway’s future Leopard 2A8 fleet

KNDS and Norwegian industrial partner RITEK inaugurated a tank-production facility at Levanger to manufacture 37 of Norway's 54 ordered Leopard 2A8NO main battle tanks. The remaining 17 tanks are to be built in Germany, while the Norwegian site will conduct assembly and testing as part of an effort to develop domestic armored-vehicle production capacity. Production at Levanger is scheduled to begin in autumn 2026, with the factory designed for a potential throughput of up to 36 tanks annually. Norway has already received its first German-built examples, and the Levanger opening concerns the national manufacturing share of an existing procurement.