Russia Ready to Help Rearm Finnish Army – Defense Minister

Russia is ready to expand military contacts with Finland and to help the country modernize its armed forces, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.

Shoigu is on a two-day visit to Finland hosted by his Finnish counterpart Carl Haglund.

“This is the first contact at the defense ministerial level. I hope we will expand contacts at the level of chiefs of staff and commanders of military districts,” Shoigu said at a joint news conference with Haglund in Helsinki.

Shoigu said Russia could provide assistance to Finland in the modernization of its army.

“Our military experts will hold a series of meetings on this issue in the near future,” he said.

The Finnish military needs modernizing, and will buy new equipment for its air force in the next 10 years, Haglund said.

During the Soviet era, Finland bought much of its military equipment from the USSR, including MiG-21 fighters, Mi-8 helicopters and air-to-air missiles. After the break-up of the Soviet Union it switched to western suppliers.

Finland is the only non-NATO EU country bordering Russia. The Finnish Defense Forces, like their Russian counterparts, are partly manned by conscripts.

New Mine Countermeasure Vessel Handed Over to the Finnish Navy

The first one of the three mine countermeasure vessels ordered by the Finnish Navy, MHC (Mine Hunter Coastal) Katanpää was handed over to the Finnish Navy.

The vessel was accepted by the Commander of the Finnish Navy, Rear Admiral Veli-Jukka Pennala at the Intermarine shipyard in La Spezia, Italy.

The vessel will be shipped to its home base in Turku, where it is expected to arrive at the end of May.

The vessel will be presented to the public for the first time on July 9th, during the anniversary of the Navy celebrations.

NEW CLASS OF VESSEL

The Katanpää class vessels will provide the Finnish Navy with a new kind of mine countermeasure capacity, which will, in addition to the present contact mine and influence mine clearing capacity, enable the Navy to conduct mine hunting and mine demolition tasks.

The Katanpää class vessels are mainly aimed for domestic use. The vessels’ systems can also be used in executive assistance, for e.g. in mapping the seabed, under-water searches and identification and in defusing under-water explosives.

The vessels are EU and NATO interoperable, and, therefore, improve Finland’s chances of participating in international crisis management operations.

Finland picks Orbiter 2 for UAS requirement

Finland's defence ministry has selected Aeronautics Defense Systems' Orbiter 2 unmanned air system (UAS) for its operational needs.

A €23 million ($30 million) contract is in the final approval phase and is expected to be signed soon.

Finland will acquire a system from the Orbiter family of air vehicles

According to Finnish sources, the deal will include 55 mini UAS, with the acquisition aimed at giving the nation's armed forces a new surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capability.

The final phase of the competition was between two Israeli-made systems - the Orbiter 2 and BlueBird's SpyLite.

The selected design has a 3m (9.8ft) wing span, 1m-long fuselage, and a 3.5h endurance up to an altitude of 18,000ft.

Maximum take-off weight is 9.5kg (20.9lb), with the air vehicle carrying an electro-optical/infrared sensor payload.