Finnish daily ILTALEHTI made a nice peace about political ambitions in HX program. Link HERE (in FIN naturally.) There was not really anything new: If you are lefty-greeny, you would prefer the Swedish SAAB candidate to win the race. (Not a bad option of course, SAAB’s bid particular dinge an sich is the Global Eye AWACS) What was a bit surprising was Centrist parties preference for Swedish thing as well.

Another thing a bit surprising is that F-35 and F/A-18 E/F/G are both seen as politically volatile because of US political government. This being post Trump time, this is a bit puzzling. There is of course the “Russian wrath” behind these, but still a rather surprising recurring Finlandizierung.

Some say they feel that “European option” would be preferable. This would mostly play for the french, as they have been quite aggressive in their posturing recently. This is not to say that Rafale would be a bad option. Neither would be Eurofighter Typhoon. in fact if you were looking just air dominance machine the Typhoon would be obvious choise, but in the real life situation this is a bit more murky open-ended choise.