Posted on 02/06/2007 5:15:03 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
US refuses to sell air-to-ground missiles for Finland’s Hornet jets
Officials in the Untied States have rejected a preliminary request by Finland to buy JASSM air-to-ground missiles for the US-made Hornet F-18 jet fighters used by the Finnish Air Force.
Finland inquired about the purchase last autumn as part of an extensive package aimed at implementing MLU2 - the second phase of the modernisation of the Air Force’s fleet of 62 jets. The Americans had no objections to Finnish requests in other respects. Finland will thus be allowed to buy missiles to attack radar stations, as well as NATO-standard Link 16 data exchange devices.
Weapons export licences have traditionally been seen as sensitive barometers of political relations between countries. Refusing to allow Finland to buy JASSM missiles suggests that relations between Finland and the US are perhaps not in as good shape as had been suggested. On the other hand, JASSM missiles have only been sold to one other country so far - Australia, which is one of the closest allies of the US in Iraq. "JASSM was on our lists, but we got a negative response. Now we must consider whether or not to renew the request", says Air Force commander, Lieutenant General Heikki Lyytinen.
JASSM and the whole MLU2 (Mid-Life Update 2) are linked with the Finland’s expansion of its air defences (with a new focus on the use of jet fighters) to air-to-ground attack capability. The Hornets are well suited for such tasks, but significant changes must first be made to the plane’s computer software. However, the updates of the software of the F-18C/D models are being phased out in the USA, as the Americans themselves are upgrading to the new F-18E/F versions. Therefore, the producers of MLU2 have no time to waste. Lyytinen says that Finland does not have the resources to produce the computer programmes independently. This means that the most important decisions on the MLU2 need to be made in the coming months.
The Finnish Air Force wants a cruise missile of the JASSM type which can be launched from a very long distance. The JASSM’s range of operations is more than 320 kilometres, according to its manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Other precision weapon options include the German-Swedish Taurus and the American SLAM-ER. They can also destroy targets at a range of hundreds of kilometres, and would add unprecedented depth to the activities of the Finnish Defence Forces. Lyytinen says that the costs of the MLU2 cannot be assessed yet. Although the decisive equipment choices must be made quite soon, the purchases themselves will not take place before the next decade. Defence budget funding is coming from 2011, and all of the Hornets will be ready for MLU2 conversion in about 2015. The first Hornet to have undergone the first phase of modernisation will be ready already this spring.
JASSM is our russian air defense killer. Is finland really close to russia in relations? I know they are socialist/leftist.
"Finnish Air Force"
?????
Who knew????
If you're not with us in Iraq and Afghanistan, we won't sell you the good stuff!
Socialist/Leftist-well the vast chunk of America's allies are increasingly fitting that description.
Which is why we have to be careful.
They're VERY into the Brussels/Paris axis, and it's damn smart we aren't giving that crowd a peek at our good stuff.
Wonder how Slammic nations like the UAE & Pakistan get all those goodies like F-16s & Harpoon Block-2s.
They can still buy similar European systems like Swede-German 'Taurus' or Anglo-French 'Storm Shadow',which are as capable as the JASSM in most respects.
Eventuall they just kind of gave up and left.
The Finns were crack shots and the Russians learned to fear and respect them.
There's no love lost between those two countries.
L
Who knew????
Finns can be tough. Google on "Winter War".
I assume the Russians have the complete specs on all "euro" weapons. No reason to let them have ours too.
Finland was an ally of Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War, as were a number of eastern European countries, who wisely feared Stalin more than Hitler. Finnish divisions held the northern flank during the seige of Leningrad, (Current St. Petersburg) where at least 500,000 Russians died. (VS. ~300,000 for the U.S. during the entire War.)
Russia invaded Finland prior to the Second World War and captured Finnish territory, after a long and bitter David and Golaith struggle. Russia still holds that territory to this day.
Finland is clearly in the Brussels orbit, but it has long, deep and well founded distrust of its huge neighbor to the east.
What do they need 'em for anyway? The Finns ain't goin' to war unless somebody brings it to 'em. Who's gonna attack them? The Sov, er, Russians? The Swedes?
We're doing them a favor.
But they would still have to get the F/A-18's programming modified to use those weapons.
Not sure if Washington would object to that given that US companies will be involved in upgrading these jets.& If things go down hill,well many countries have tweaked the weapon systems on their planes without license,though it's never smooth.
Yep. You are right. Such is registrated very closely among other European countries and will trigger the sales of weapon systems with exclusive European origin.
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