Finland joined NATO on Tuesday. With this, Finland’s decades-old non-aligned policy has come to an end. With the inclusion of Finland, the border of NATO countries with Russia has increased by 1300 kilometers. According to the Global Firepower Index, the Finnish military is ranked as the 51st most powerful military in the world. It is also seen as a strong NATO presence in Western Europe. With Finland joining NATO, Russia’s northern border has become insecure.
Russia has already threatened that the people of Finland will have to live in fear of the atomic bomb for the rest of their lives. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Finland joining NATO will have far-reaching consequences and we will definitely take retaliatory measures for our security.
How strong is the army of Finland?
Finland is one of the few European countries to have implemented compulsory military service despite decades of peace after World War II. There are approximately 21,000 new recruits in Finland every year. The duration of military service ranges from 180 to 362 days. Since 1994, women have also been enlisting in the Finnish military, although military service is not mandatory for them.
Soldiers retired from compulsory military service after active duty are part of the Reserve Corps of Finland. Finland’s reserve corps has 280,000 soldiers. Of these, about 10,000 soldiers are called for refresher courses every year on a rotational basis. The contract workforce comprises 12000 people, out of which 8000 are military personnel. In Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, about 900,000 people aged 17 to 60 can join the army if needed.
Armament and strength of the army of Finland
The Army of Finland is also known as the Finnish Army. The Finnish Army consists of eight brigades. They have 239 main battle tanks, including 100 Leopard-2A6 and 139 Leopard-2A4 tanks. Also included are 212 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (110 Soviet-built BMP2MD and 102 Swedish-built CV9030FIN). The Finnish Army has 1100 armored personnel carriers (including 400 Soviet-built MT-LS), both wheeled and tracked vehicles. The bulk of Finland’s Leopard-2A4 tanks were obtained from Germany between 2002 and 2004. In 2009, Finland ordered more Leopard-2 tanks from Germany. Finland bought one hundred used 2A6 tanks from the Netherlands between 2015 and 2019.
Finland has 650 anti aircraft missiles. Finland is in the process of buying more anti-aircraft missiles from Saab Dynamics of Switzerland and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel. Sweden has the largest number of NASAMS 2 anti-aircraft systems, manufactured jointly by Norway and the United States.
Finland is preparing to buy more than 2000 drones. Since joining the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention in 2012, Finland has destroyed over 100,000 anti-personnel mines. Some of these have been converted into remote controlled smart mine and area denial systems.
How strong is the Finnish Air Force?
The Finnish Air Force is divided into three air commands, each of which operates a fighter squadron. The IAF has a fleet of 61 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets. This fleet is to be replaced with 64 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters. The purchase of F-35 aircraft from the US is also being considered as Finland’s biggest defense deal. The main weapons of the Finnish Air Force include the American Sidewinder missile and the AIM-120 AMRAM missile. The AGM-154C JSOW and AGM-158A JASMM missiles are also part of the Finnish Air Force’s arsenal. Apart from this, Finland also has guided bombs of GBU class.
What is the naval power of Finland?
The Finnish Navy is specially designed for coastal operations. The Finnish Navy is trained and armed to protect the territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish Navy has eight missile boats, four command ships, five minesweepers, 13 minesweepers and three mine countermeasures vessels, in addition to small landing craft. The Finnish Navy currently has three new multirole corvettes under construction for surface combat. He is expected to join by 2029.