On 14 May 2025, Norwegian forces used a US-made smart bomb in a way no ally had ever done before, seizing control of the weapon mid‑flight and steering it toward their own targets during a high‑stakes exercise with the US Air Force.
A Norwegian first in the skies over Andøya
The operation took place off the coast of Andøya, in northern Norway, during a joint drill known as Jotun Strike. The setting was remote, but the stakes were anything but provincial. The skies were filled with modern combat aircraft, sensors and data links, all stitched together into a single operational network.
Two US F‑15E Strike Eagle fighter jets launched several GBU‑53/B StormBreaker precision bombs. These are not “dumb” gravity bombs. They are compact, guided munitions purpose‑built to hit small, moving or obscured targets in poor visibility. Once clear of the jets, something unprecedented happened: control of the bombs shifted from American hands to Norwegian operators on the ground and in the air.
For the first time, a US smart bomb in real flight was handed over to an allied military, which then guided it independently to its own objectives.
Norwegian personnel, connected through a secure data link, reprogrammed the bombs’ trajectories in real time. They assigned them to targets chosen by Norway, rather than by the launching US aircraft. This was not a laboratory simulation or pre‑planned scripted drill. It was a live, end‑to‑end test of shared control over lethal hardware.
For both countries, the exercise represented a profound level of trust. For Norway, a relatively small military by global standards, it signalled a step up into a more central role in NATO’s high‑tech combat architecture.
How a US bomb can “switch hands” in mid‑air
The GBU‑53/B StormBreaker is designed from the outset to be networked. Unlike older munitions that follow a fixed path to a pre‑programmed point, the StormBreaker can receive new instructions after release.
Inside the weapon, three different seekers work together: radar, infrared and a semi‑active laser system. These let the bomb track vehicles and other moving targets through darkness, clouds, smoke or bad weather. It can prioritise targets, choosing the most threatening or time‑critical one within its field of view.
The crucial ingredient for Jotun Strike was connectivity. The bomb carries a military data link compatible with Link 16, NATO’s common digital backbone for aircraft, ships and ground units. Through that network, Norwegian operators were able to:
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- Monitor the bomb’s position and status in real time
- Adjust its flight path while it was already descending
- Reassign it from one target to another if the situation changed
- Abort an attack if conditions on the ground no longer justified a strike
Instead of a one‑way shot, the bomb behaved like a connected, steerable asset, subject to human decision at every stage of its flight.
One more aircraft played a central role: a Norwegian‑operated P‑8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane. Known mostly for submarine hunting, this large jet is packed with sensors and communications gear. During Jotun Strike, it fed tracking data and targeting updates to the bombs, proving that even platforms designed for different missions can collaborate seamlessly in a shared network.
A quiet Norwegian tech cell behind the scenes
The mid‑air takeover did not come out of nowhere. Since 2019, a small Norwegian unit known as NOBLE, attached to the country’s operational headquarters, has been working on ways to knit existing weapons and platforms into a flexible, shared network.
Rather than buying entirely new systems, NOBLE’s approach focuses on software and data. The goal is to make missiles, bombs and aircraft already in service — including F‑35s and Joint Strike missiles — act as if they were built from scratch for deep integration.
| Element | Role in Jotun Strike |
|---|---|
| F‑15E Strike Eagle | Initial launch platform for the US StormBreaker bombs |
| Norwegian operators | Took over control and retasked the munitions in flight |
| P‑8A Poseidon | Provided real‑time radar and targeting data |
| NOBLE software | Synchronized data between platforms and managed the weapon handover |
The software developed under NOBLE aggregates sensor data from multiple aircraft and ships, then translates it into guidance commands a weapon like StormBreaker can understand. That makes the bomb agnostic to who launched it. In theory, a missile fired by one nation’s jet can later be steered by another nation’s operators, based on fresher information closer to the frontline.
A new way of fighting wars for smaller countries
Jotun Strike carries a clear political and strategic message. A small state with sophisticated networks and strong coding skills can now punch above its weight. Norway does not need to own vast stockpiles of every advanced munition. Instead, it can plug into allied arsenals and direct those weapons when they cross its area of operations.
The exercise hinted at a future where control of data and networks matters as much as owning the metal and explosives themselves.
Within NATO, this kind of shared control could change how operations are planned. Rather than every nation running its own largely separate air campaign, coalitions could assign tasks dynamically: one country launches, another guides, a third provides surveillance, all in real time against shifting targets.
This approach also raises practical questions. Who bears legal responsibility if a bomb launched by one state and guided by another causes civilian casualties? How are rules of engagement harmonised when multiple chains of command touch the same weapon? These issues will need careful negotiation as the technology spreads.
What “networked weapons” actually mean
The term gets used often, but here it has a specific meaning. A networked weapon can:
- Communicate two‑ways with aircraft, ships or ground stations
- Update its target or route after launch
- Share status and sensor data back to human operators
- Be integrated into multi‑national command structures
In practical battlefield terms, this allows more cautious and flexible use of force. A weapon can be launched early, on the assumption that it can be retasked or cancelled once more information becomes available. That reduces pressure on pilots to wait until the last second to make decisions over hostile territory.
This connectivity also carries risks. Any network can be jammed, deceived or hacked, especially by a technologically capable adversary. Militaries invest heavily in encryption and anti‑jamming techniques, but the more a force depends on data links, the more painful a disruption becomes. Jotun Strike shows what is possible when the network works as intended; planners also train for the moment when it does not.
From simulations to real‑world scenarios
Until now, such concepts largely lived in simulators and classified briefings. By moving them into the messy environment above the Norwegian Sea, Norway and the US tested how theory holds up when weather, signal reflection and human stress all get involved.
If similar systems were deployed in a crisis, a StormBreaker could be launched by a US plane far from threat, then passed to a Norwegian F‑35 closer to the coast, and finally guided by a ground team with drones watching the target area. Each handover would use the same shared data language and security protocols refined in exercises like Jotun Strike.
That kind of choreography lowers risk for aircrews while tightening the loop between those who see the battlefield and those who hold the trigger authority. It also demands a high degree of political alignment among allies, because control of lethal force is literally being passed around in real time.
For Norway, this successful handover of an American bomb in mid‑flight has become more than a technical achievement. It signals a deliberate strategic choice: invest in networks, software and interoperability, so that when conflicts move from trenches to data links, the country is not just a passenger in allied operations, but a key node helping steer the fight.
