The government's press conference in Helsinki will be attended by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Defense Ministers Antti Kaikkonen and Timo Kivinen, as well as commanders of the Finnish Armed Forces. 

They announced that Finland would choose the F-35 from the world's largest arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin after a special government meeting on Friday.

The motive is that the F-35 has the best capabilities in combination with finances, the government states.

On Wednesday, Magdalena Andersson (S) made her first trip abroad as Sweden's new Prime Minister.

She met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and President Sauli Niinistö.

Among other things, they talked about what would be Sweden's largest arms export to date - worth around SEK 100 billion.

But as Saab has now lost.

- We have a Swedish offer that is on the table, but there are also other offers.

It is up to the Finnish government to make its decision, said Magdalena Andersson.

The decision was leaked

Just a few days before the visit, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti published the news that Finland is likely to buy American F-35 fighter jets instead of the Swedish Jas Gripen.

Later, sources also told SVT Nyheter that Finland will most likely choose the F-35 Lightning II.

Saab offered Finland its latest fighter variant Gripen E in 64 copies.

In addition, Saab spices up the offer with two monitoring planes of the Global Eye type.

The Saab Gripen E is one of five aircraft types competing to replace the Finnish Air Force's current Hornet fighter aircraft, which was purchased in the early 1990s by the United States.

They will be replaced by 2030.

Finland is offered two copies of Saab's Global Eye for airborne surveillance and combat command.

Photo: Saab AB

Flight simulator at the embassy

The other candidates are British Eurofighter Typhoon, French Dassault Rafale and American Boeing Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II.

Before Christmas, the Government of Finland will announce its decision on which aircraft will win the tender.

The Finnish state expert group Hx is behind the decision to propose to the Finnish government to acquire the US F-35. 

According to previous information to SVT, Saab has had a hard time measuring itself in the fight against the world's largest weapon manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-35.

Among other things, they placed a flight simulator at the US Embassy in Helsinki, where the Finnish pilots could carry out simulated test flights.