"We need at least 64 new fighters to defend our country," Finnish MoD Ssays

“WE NEED AT LEAST 64 NEW FIGHTERS TO DEFEND OUR COUNTRY,” FINNISH MoD SAYS

By Gabriele Barison
Dec 11 2017
Share this article

Last August U.S. President Donald Trump said during a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Washington that Finland had agreed to purchase a large number of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from Boeing. That claim was denied by Niinistö later on Twitter

The Finnish Ministry of Defense (MoD) has concluded that the country needs a one-to-one replacement for its F/A-18 fleet which have served the Finnish military since 1992 and that will be retired by 2030.

According to yle.fi the defence report, which was approved by the Parliament in February, says that the readiness of the current fleet must be fully maintained after the procurement.

“We have interpreted that to mean 64 fighter jets. Because the new jets are not faster and can’t stay up in the air any longer than the current ones, we will require the same number of jets to maintain the performance of our air defence,” says Lauri Puranen from MoD.

“That is the minimum number we need to defend a country of this size.”

Last April Finnish MoD said that requests for proposals (RFPs) will be sent in early 2018 to the same manufacturers who were sent the original requests for information (RFIs) for Finland’s fighter replacement requirement (HX) in December 2016. The recipients will be Boeing (for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-15 Eagle), Lockheed Martin (for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter and F-16 Fighting Falcon), Saab (for the Gripen E), Dessault Aviation (for the Rafale) and BAE Systems (for the Eurofighter Typhoon). In 2019 a newly elected government will decide the winner.

The Finnish MoD said to Jane’s that, from the RFI responses, it should be possible to complete the HX acquisition within the EUR7-10 billion (USD7.6-10.6 billion) budgeted for the programme. “All of the candidates’ responses indicate that operating and maintenance costs can be covered from present-level defence budgets,” the MOD added.

Noteworthy last August U.S. President Donald Trump said during a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Washington that Finland had agreed to purchase a large number of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from Boeing.

"We need at least 64 new fighters to defend our country," Finnish MoD Ssays

That claim was denied by Niinistö later on Twitter.

Photo credit: Alastair Barbour (https://www.flickr.com/photos/aceebee/19967522429/) via Wikipedia and Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Ignacio D. Perez / U.S. Navy


Share this article

Gabriele Barison

Gabriele Barison

Gabriele Barison is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Co-Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. He has flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this article


Share this article
Share this article

Always up to date! News and offers delivered directly to you!

Get the best aviation news, stories and features from The Aviation Geek Club in our newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.



    Share this article
    Back to top
    My Agile Privacy
    This website uses technical and profiling cookies. Clicking on "Accept" authorises all profiling cookies. Clicking on "Refuse" or the X will refuse all profiling cookies. By clicking on "Customise" you can select which profiling cookies to activate. We and our selected ad partners can store and/or access information on your device, such as cookies, unique identifiers, browsing data. You can always choose the specific purposes related to profiling by accessing the advertising preferences panel, and you can always withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on "Manage consent" at the bottom of the page.

    List of some possible advertising permissions:

    You can consult: our list of advertising partners, the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.
    Warning: some page functionalities could not work due to your privacy choices