A finnish weekly Seura poblished an article about fight about money between Airforce, navy and Army. (Link to article here, in finnish).  I’ll provide a quick recap of the article for finnish impaired. AF and Navy have bled money from the aArmy, which is the only arm that can fight enemy when invasion occurs. Air forces HX program cost abot 10 G€ and Navy will get abut 1,2 G€ for new frigates. This is all away from Army. Situation was good in 1990’ies when Finland armed the army with DDR’s surplus equipment. Had all the equipment put on a train, the train would have been 48 kilometres long.

the Army generals have a point the Army is the only “big stick “that exist in Finland and unfortunately it has been allowed to go to dogs. Although the naval officers may look very pretty in dress whites atop big ships, they, nor the ships, are not capable of defending the eastern border against Russia’s invasion. Same goes with the Air Force.  

Of course one has to realize that the air force is main component of the FDF’s force projection, and it is needed to defend the  Army against hostile Air Forces. And the Air Force needs the numbers in order to be able to fulfill the mission it is needed for.  

The same goes for the Navy because everybody knows that 4 ships that are meant to replace the 7 older hulls will not be enough not by a long shot.  These ships would be needed for Convoy duty to take Finish shipping to southern Baltic Sea and to Danish straits and back.  At the same time those ships would be needed to protect the Åland islands and Southern Coastline against landings and infiltration of Special Forces. So I’d think something in order of eight frigates would be in need here.

So what really is happening here is that everybody has noticed that the emperor has no clothes or in other words the notice the Army, the big stick, that’s going to ruin and nobody wants to admit this and political class cannot in this economic situation put money where it is needed.  

So maybe he wants to take a long hard look over establishing same kind of the Home Guard to get men and rifles for the Army, Yep they have destroyed more than 100 000 of them too.  Every free country in the world, well apart from Finland and Sovie.. Russia has. Home guard functions very well in Estonia and in Sweden and Norway and in many other countries throughout Europe so there is no reason whatsoever that it would not function in Finland.  So in hopes that Finland will get the Civil guard it needs and even though it is sexy to buy big ships and nice airplanes that Army would also get its due and equipment and the brigades it needs. Finland just cannot be cannot be defended by 3 brigades, the area and time just will not allow it, and NATO will not want to come she cannot pull its own weight in defense.

So we should now pay up the neglect dished out by Mr Katainen and Mrs Urpilainen, and rise the defence spending for next 110-15 years or so to 2,5-3% of GNP, and pay the piper and put army into shape again. Equipment and brigade vice both.

Over and out.