1,3 billion to renovate Finnish Hornet fighters

(B2) Finnish parliamentarians are still strangled by it... Updating the Hornet fighter planes should cost - until 2017 - "a little more than a billion euros" according to the Minister of Defence. "1,3 billion euros (including missiles)" according to the air force, quoted by Helsingin Sanomat. Nothing extraordinary, replies the Ministry of Defence. It was expected...

Finland decided in 1992 to modernize its air fleet and finally opted for 64 American-made F/A 18 Hornets (Mac Donnel Douglas), purchased in 1995 (57 in version C - single seat - and 7 in version D - double seat) and reconfigured locally. Cost: 3 billion euros. The planes are not equipped with certain avionics equipment, target identification and ground attack capability (in fact it is more F18 - air combat aircraft - than F/A 18 - combat and attack aircraft). These planes are indeed, above all, intended to ensure the defense of the territory, to prevent aerial incursions and therefore suitable for aerial combat. Finland's policy of non-aggressiveness, in force in the early 1990s (when the first purchasing decision was taken), aims not to equip its armed forces with offensive equipment that could be perceived as a "threat" by the Soviets.

After the break-up of the USSR, the Finnish vision of defense and strategy evolved. Equipment is needed to restore these machines to their attack capacity. A first phase of renovation (MLU1) - provided for in the national white paper of 2001, is underway, valued at 325 million euros. It consists of equipping aircraft with new Air-Air missiles and more efficient sighting systems. The second renovation (MLU2) - planned in the 2004 national white paper - aims to equip them with air-to-ground action. This could be of three types, according to the commander of the air force, Major General Jarmo Lindberg, quoted by Helsingin Sanomat: JASSM missiles - if the Americans agree to supply them to the Finns * -, AGM-154C JSOW bombs, or even "smart" Boeing JDAM type bombs (with a range of about twenty kilometers, guided by GPS). This renovation would allow the planes to be in operation beyond 2020. Other details on the website of the Finnish Ministry of Defence.

(NGV)

* In February 2007, the Americans had refused the delivery of these missiles considering that the planes should first be modernized.

(Photo: Finnish Air Force)