Russia’s neighbor to splash €10bn on F-35 fighter jets in record deal
December 10, 2021
Finland has struck a deal with America’s Lockheed Martin to buy a total of 64 F-35 fighter jets. The Finnish media is calling the €10 bn contract the largest of its kind in the country’s history.
The US jets are scheduled to replace Finland’s Hornets, which will be gradually decommissioned beginning in 2025. With its decision, the Scandinavian country has joined nations like Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy and Poland, which also opted for the American-made combat aircraft.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 was competing with jets manufactured by Saab AB, Dassault Aviation, and Boeing, as well as the European Eurofighter Typhoon.
The whopping €10 bn contract reportedly covers not only the procurement of the jets but also the creation of technical and training infrastructure in Finland, spare parts, and weapons.
The decision was announced on Friday, with the defense minister, Antti Kaikkonen, saying that “when comparing military performance, the F-35 best met our needs.”
The battle between major arms manufacturers for the Finnish contract broke out back in 2015, when it became known that the country’s air force started looking for a replacement for the ageing fighter jet fleet it had bought from an American company, McDonnell Douglas, in the early 1990’s.
F-35 is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. Its first iteration took wing back in 2006, entering service with the US Marine Corps nine years later.
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