A historic day for the entire region and the beginning of new development and new opportunities for Bodø and Nordland, says municipal council chairman Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen to the Norwegian news agency NTB.
The question of where the defense alliance's new air command would be placed has been on the agenda for a while. The two main alternatives, both offering bomb-proof mountain bunkers, were Reitan in the north and Østfold in the southeast.
Rygge has been described as the cheaper alternative, but the choice still fell on Reitan. There, the NATO command will be located in a bunker already operationally used by the country's defense, which, according to Aftenposten, must now find new facilities.
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre calls the decision great and vital for security and safety.
We had two very good alternatives, so we could have performed the task both in Rygge in Østfold and here in Bodø. The defense chief recommended Bodø and our assessment is security-politically based, he says to NRK.
When Sweden and Finland are in NATO, it is important to have a complete air picture over a large region.
Establishing the new air command is expected to take a few years.
