Norwegian Coast Guard

Norwegian Coast Guard Kystvakten
Norwegian Coast Guards coat of arms
Racing stripe
Naval ensign
Agency overview
Formed	1 April, 1977
Employees	900 employees (2023)
Annual budget	1.3 billion (2023)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Norway
Constituting instrument	Kystvaktloven (Coast Guard Act, 1997)[1]
Specialist jurisdiction	Coastal patrol, marine border protection, marine search and rescue.
Operational structure
Headquarters	Sortland Naval Base
Agency executives	Harald V, Commander-in-Chief Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister Bjørn Arild Gram, Minister of Defence General Eirik Kristoffersen, Chief of Defence Rear Admiral Oliver Berdal, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy Commodore Øystein Dunsæd[2], Commander of the Norwegian Coast Guard
Parent agency	Royal Norwegian Navy
Facilities
Boats	Jan Mayen-class Barentshav-class Nornen-class Svalbard
Website
Official website

The Norwegian Coast Guard (Norwegian: Kystvakten) is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for fisheries inspection, customs enforcement, border control, law enforcement, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and search and rescue. It operates throughout Norway's 2,385,178-square-kilometer (920,922 sq mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ), internal waters and territorial waters. It is headquartered at Sortland Naval Base. In 2023 the Coast Guard had 900 employees, including conscripts, and a budget of 1.3 billion Norwegian krone.^[3]

The force is subdivided into three main divisions. The Outer Coast Guard covers the EEZ and consists of three Jan Mayen class offshore patrol vessels, three Barentshav-class offshore patrol vessels as well as Ålesund, Svalbard and Harstad. The Inner Coast Guard consists of five Nornen-class patrol vessels. The Coast Guard has air support of the P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force.

The Coast Guard has its basis in the defunct Fisheries Surveillance Service, which was established in 1908. It was a jointly military and civilian operation; it leased fishing vessels during the season to supplement larger navy vessels. This was converted into the Military Fisheries Surveillance in 1961. The Coast Guard was established on 1 April 1977, the same year as Norway delineated its EEZ. The restructuring led to the delivery of the Nordkapp-class and the Lynx helicopters. The Inner Coast Guard was established in 1996. The Coast Guard has participated in the 1990–91 Gulf War and the 2014 destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.

Coast Guard vessels bear the prefix KV, for "Kystvakt"; in English, these vessels are identified by the prefix NoCGV, for "Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel".^[4]