Image: Lockheed Martin
Posted on 04/14/2009 8:43:58 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Finland Getting Top US Missiles?
published Apr 1 05:32 PM, updated Apr 2 03:20 PM
The Finnish Air Force is buying at least 200 million euros worth of new equipment for its F-18C Hornet jet fighters. American JASSM air-to-surface missiles may become the latest addition to Finnish fleets.
The government’s financial affairs committee gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to buy the weapons from the US Navy. The hardware includes long-range air-to-ground missiles.
The upgrade is part of a 17-year development programme with a total price tag of about one billion euros.
Under the plan, the entire fleet of Hornet jets will be updated by the end of 2016. The need for updating was already known when the decision was made to buy the US-made planes in 1992.
Two agreements on industrial cooperation are linked with the deal. The Finnish Patria Aviation will install the devices.
Top-of-the-line missiles
Finnish defence officials expect the US to sell Finland its top-of-the-line JASSM air-to-surface missiles as part of the upgrade programme for the country's fleet of F-18 Hornet jet fighters.
According to a Defence Ministry memo accessed by YLE, both the JASSM and the German-Swedish Taurus missile are under consideration.
In February 2007, the United States declined to sell JASSM missiles to Finland, which at the time was seen by some as a sign of political mistrust.
Officially it was denied that there was any friction between the two countries. Later there was speculation that the US had been experiencing technical problems with the missiles and so put a freeze on sales abroad.
YLE
Image: Lockheed Martin
I’m stunned by this. Russia will see it as provocative. Also, the Finns chose the F-18C over the Grippen?
Saamis getting SAMs!!
How so? They are just upgrading their existing US planes. Finland remains outside of NATO.
I didn't know that Finland had F-18's. Assuming that their 'C' model is the same as our F/A-18C, then the incorporation of JASSM makes a light-strike fighter into a serious bomber.
I could understand the Russian b*tching about this...
They got their Hornets in the mid-90s when the Gripen was still to enter service.
US Navy F-18s used the SLAM cruise missiles in Desert Storm.
I think the Finns invaded (Western) Russia a few hundred years ago.
The Russkies are fearful of them.
smart purchase right now, I am sure that they are getting a good deal. Upgrade the firmware and avionics and really mess up the Russian’s day. Russian airpower was pretty weak over Georgia last year, two or three sorties of these would cause a heavy dent in the Frogfoot inventory.
Older news
Finland Buys LITENING AT Pods
17-Jun-2008
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/finland-buys-litening-at-pods-04475/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LITENING_targeting_pod
Air-to-Air Refueling Training for Hornet Pilots at Pirkkala
28 th April, 2009
The Finnish Air Force (FINAF) stages at its Pirkkala base from 2 to 8 May an exercise during which the service’s Hornet pilots are trained on air-to-air refueling (AAR).
...
Training sorties are conducted using a total of twelve Boeing F-18 Hornets, while the number of technical personnel involved in the exercise is about twenty. The tanker is a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) based with the 100th Air Refueling Wing at Mildenhall, Britain. Most sorties will be flown in airspace to the north of Tampere.
http://www.ilmavoimat.fi/index_en.php
Finland, April 6, 2009
http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-—Air/Boeing-KC-135A-Stratotanker/1516808/L/
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ pledge in April to speed domestic F-35 purchases will give confidence to foreign buyers, both among the eight current partners and beyond. Israel and Singapore, which had F-35 security cooperation pacts yet weren’t full partners in the program, have begun talks with the U.S. government that could lead them to join, Crowley said. Government talks have also begun on possible F- 35 sales with Finland, Spain, South Korea and Japan, he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=auO7yWGep0lg
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.