Finland buys 64 American F-35 fighter jets at the expense of defense Europe
Finland chooses the F-35 of the American group Lockheed Martin for a record order of 8.3 billion euros.
JACK GUEZ AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Finnish government has chosen the American Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth aircraft to replace its fleet of F-18 fighters and plans to order 64 copies.
The Finnish government clarified that the order represented an amount of 8.3 billion euros.
It is one of the biggest military acquisition contracts signed by Helsinki.
Advertising
Read more
This new export success of the F-35 is not really a surprise.
The Finnish tender was cut to open the doors of the Finnish air force to the aircraft of the American Lockeed Martin.
Since the 1990s, Finnish pilots have already been equipped with American aircraft, Boeing F-18s, with which they say they are very satisfied, and the partnership with the Americans is very close.
The fact remains that this choice is made to the detriment of defense Europe and the European manufacturers who participated in the call for tenders: the Rafale from Dassault, the Gripen from the Swedish company Saab and the Eurofighter.
A model chosen by other Europeans
"
The F-35 has met the requirements in terms of readiness, industrial cooperation and cost,
" said the Minister of Defense.
Finland shares a border of over 1,300 km with Russia.
The country plans to station half of the new devices in the north in Lapland and the other half, in the east of the country, in Karelia.
The F-35, the so-called fifth generation stealth aircraft, that of connected combat, has already been chosen by several European countries including Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
It will fly in Finland until 2060.
►
To read also: The armaments giants always sell more
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Finland
United States
Defense
Aeronautics