Norway has joined France's "advanced nuclear deterrence" programme, making it the ninth country to come under the Paris-led security umbrella. French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced the agreement on Wednesday at the Élysée Palace in Paris, where the two leaders also signed a broader bilateral defence pact that includes a mutual defence clause in the event of an armed attack.

Macron first unveiled the advanced deterrence concept in a major speech in early March at the Île-Longue submarine base near Brest, in northwestern France. The scheme allows partner countries to temporarily host French "strategic air forces" that can be dispersed across the European continent, with the stated aim of complicating potential adversaries' military calculations. Crucially, Macron was explicit that the arrangement involves no sharing of the final decision to use nuclear weapons, which remains solely France's prerogative. Eight countries had already joined the programme at its launch — Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Norway, a Nordic country bordering Russia in its far north and a founding member of NATO, had initially said it was willing to discuss participation before formally committing on Wednesday.

Store described the security environment in stark terms. "We are contending with the most serious security situation since the Second World War," he said, noting that Norway had recently concluded defence agreements with Germany and the United Kingdom as well. He added that Wednesday's accord would establish "concrete structures, plans, exercises and prepositioning of equipment" to enable swift responses in a crisis, as well as frameworks for cooperation on hybrid warfare, maritime security, cybersecurity, space, Ukraine support, and defence industry.

Macron highlighted Norway's strategic geography as a particular asset, saying the country "will represent a strong added value" for enhanced deterrence given its existing role in protecting allied territory from external threats. France holds an estimated 290 nuclear warheads, according to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Federation of American Scientists — making it the world's fourth-largest nuclear power, behind Russia, the United States, and China. More than 80 percent of France's arsenal is submarine-launched.

The announcement reflects a broader European push to strengthen the continent's own security architecture at a time of heightened concern about both Russia's posture and the reliability of external security guarantees. By expanding the deterrence scheme to include Norway, France is extending its nuclear umbrella to cover not only the European Union's eastern flank but also the strategically sensitive High North — a region of growing military and geopolitical competition.