Despite criticism from coalition partners over dropping the standard bidding procedure, Defence Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen said Friday that Norway would order four new Hercules transport planes. Strom-Erichsen of the Labour Party, the main party in the ruling red-green coalition, said "there is little point when there is one bidder and one type of transport plane on the market." The four Hercules C-130J aircraft were worth 3.6 billion kroner (598 million dollars). Deliveries were slated in 2008 to 2010, pending formal approval by parliament. "The defence needs a flexible and safe air transport system, especially in Afghanistan," Strom-Erichsen said in a statement. The current planes bought 1968 and 1969 were currently being serviced in Canada but were too old to be deployed in international missions, she said according to Norwegian news agency NTB.
