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During Norway’s September 2026 Exercise Hovedstad, soldiers reportedly found video stored in rental cars used by the Armed Forces. The footage was said to show people entering and leaving, vehicle routes and stops, pickups, and access codes for gates and doors. It was deleted from the cars after the exercise. Reporting has not established that the footage was transmitted, accessed by a manufacturer or rental company, or deliberately collected for espionage.
What happened during Exercise Hovedstad?
Home Guard personnel used cars rented by the Norwegian Armed Forces through Hertz during Exercise Hovedstad in September 2026. Lieutenant Fredrik Blanck told Forsvarets forum that soldiers discovered video stored on the vehicles. Forsvarets forum and VG reported on the footage on October 8.
At least two of the rental cars were identified in reporting as Chinese-brand Deepal vehicles. The reports do not establish the exact models, how many cars were used, or whether all the rented cars were Chinese-made. Nor do they show that the recording feature was unique to a Chinese brand.
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The footage was reportedly deleted from the vehicles after the exercise. It is not known whether copies existed elsewhere, how long the recordings had been retained, or how many people or clips were involved. No technical inspection or forensic finding in the available reporting establishes the cars’ data-storage or transmission architecture.
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What did the cars reportedly record, and why does it matter?
According to the account by a participating lieutenant, the recordings could show who entered and left the vehicles, routes taken, pickups, and how long cars stopped at different locations. Access codes for gates and doors were also reportedly captured.
Even without recording inside a facility, video and movement history can expose patterns: where personnel travel, when they arrive, which locations they visit, and how long they remain. A captured access code could create a separate security concern. These are plausible risks of the reported contents, not proof that anyone used the information or that a security breach occurred.
Did the cars send the footage to China?
There is no evidence in the cited reporting that the cars transmitted video to China, that Geely or another manufacturer received it, or that any outside party accessed it. The reporting establishes a narrower point: video was found stored on the vehicles and later deleted from them. Whether data also existed in a cloud service, on another system, or nowhere beyond the cars remains unresolved.
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VG reported Volvo Cars’ position that Chinese ownership alone did not create a security risk and that data could not be shared with Geely without a legal basis. That is the company’s stated position, not independent verification of the vehicles’ data path or an investigation into the rental cars involved in this exercise.
Why were Chinese-brand cars rented?
The Armed Forces used cars provided through a nationwide rental framework rather than buying vehicles specifically for the exercise. Forsvarets forum reported that the Armed Forces’ Logistics Organisation had a rental framework running from June 2024 through May 2028, with a reported maximum value of NOK 350 million. The ceiling applies to the framework, not to the cars used in Exercise Hovedstad or to the exercise’s cost.
First Rent A Car Norway, which operates Hertz Norway, was reported as the first supplier under that framework. The available reporting does not explain why the particular Deepal cars were assigned to this exercise or establish that the Armed Forces deliberately selected them because of their origin.
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Did Norway ban Chinese cars from military sites?
No general ban was in place under the policy described in the government’s February 27, 2026 parliamentary answer. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the Armed Forces did not consider a blanket ban on vehicles made in China appropriate at that time, citing practical burdens and a judgment that those burdens did not match the potential security gain.
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The policy described was based on site-specific protection and risk assessments. Some locations are open to the public; others are tightly secured. The government said baseline physical and electronic safeguards protect sensitive assets, and that units could impose additional restrictions—including local bans on vehicles with modern cameras and sensors—where needed. Individual units had also made local decisions about keeping private cars outside certain areas.
Armed Forces press officer Aleksander Engborg Hage told Forsvarets forum that the military was aware of issues involving electronics and vehicles but had no general ban on cars made by specific countries. That position is consistent with a local-risk approach, not unrestricted access for every vehicle at every site.
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What is known about the government’s response to this incident?
On October 8, 2026, a parliamentary question asked the defence minister whether safeguards and restrictions had prevented sensitive information from being captured during the exercise, and whether using the cars had been prudent. The Storting page showed the minister’s reply as unavailable on October 13, 2026. The question’s wording is not itself a finding that safeguards failed; the specific official response was not yet available at that time.
The key distinction is between a reported recording and a demonstrated disclosure. The available accounts describe footage stored in the cars and say it was deleted. They do not establish who, if anyone, obtained a copy or whether any sensitive information was used outside the exercise.
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Quick Recap
Sources
- Stortinget: written parliamentary questions and answers (including the February 2026 policy answer and October 8 question).
- Forsvarets forum: reporting on the exercise, the cars, and the rental framework.
- VG: contemporaneous reporting and Volvo Cars’ stated position.
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