A total of 64 F-35A Lightning II aircraft of the American Lockheed Martin are to be procured by 2030 by the Finnish Air Force, in order to replace the current Hornet, also of the American McDonnell Douglas, which was procured in the early 90’s. Official announcements were made on Friday by Prime Minister Sana Marin and Defense Minister Andy Kaikonen. The total cost of the investment, together with the training of the crews, reaches ten billion euros. According to the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, this is the largest supply of equipment in the history of the country.
It is noted that Finland has some geographical and historical peculiarities. Unlike Norway, it is not a member of NATO, as it has maintained a strict neutrality regime for many decades. However, it cooperates with NATO on many issues, while in 2014 it signed for the first time a cooperation agreement with the Atlantic Alliance on educational issues and crisis management, as did neighboring Sweden. With the “market of the century”, NATO is expected to get even closer. Today, Finland is the European country that shares the largest land border with Russia, at a length of 1,340 km.
Highest score from Rafale and Eurofighter
Despite the declarations of a common European defense policy, another European country chooses American F-35 aircraft. So far, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway have done the same, followed by Denmark. In total, the Finns had tested five different models: the F-35 of Lockheed Martin, the F / A-18E Super Hornet of Boeing, the Eurofighter, the well-known in Greece Rafale of the French Dassault and the Gripen of the Swedish Saab. In fact, the Swedes had high hopes for neighboring Finland and to lure the country’s armed forces offered a “package”, along with the Gripen E fighter, the GlobalEye reconnaissance aircraft. However, Defense Minister Kaikonen believes that the decision in favor of the F-35 will not affect bilateral cooperation with the Swedes in the field of defense.
All models were tested by the Finnish Armed Forces. The conclusion, according to Defense Minister Kaikonen, was that “based on its performance, the F35 best meets the needs of the country.” According to the Helsinki Times website, Air Force officer Passy Jokinen states that the F-35 received the highest score (4.47) in the rating based on operational capability, with a difference from the second model (3.81), which did not is named. According to the industry publication FlugRevue, another important criterion for the Finns was the long “life” of the F-35, as it is estimated that American aircraft will fly at least until 2060, without any problems. It is noted, however, that from time to time reports have pointed out some weaknesses of the F-35, such as the very high cost per flight hour.
Rafale remains in the competition
French Rafale, however, remain popular. Dassault’s latest big deal was to sell 80 Rafale aircraft in the United Arab Emirates for 15 billion euros. Other contracts with Greece, Egypt and Croatia had preceded it. According to the German network N-TV, with the Rafale mass procurement, the Ministry of Defense of the Emirates intends to replace the old French Mirage 2000 and not to cancel the parallel cooperation with Lockheed Martin.
DW / Giannis Papadimitriou (DPA, N-TV, Helsinki Times)
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