HELSINKI \u2014 Finland has issued a formal notification to industry candidates in its multibillion-dollar fighter program, urging them to keep their proposals within the prescribed budget constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do not envisage that we will see withdrawals because of the revised request for quotations. We expect no change there,\u201d said Lauri Puranen, who directs the Finnish Air Forces\u2019 HX-fighter program. He said the move was meant simply to stress the need for all of the five international contenders to respect the program\u2019s \u20ac10 billion, or $11.1 billion, limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defense officials here have conceded that all five bidders, including Saab (Gripen), Dassault Rafale, the pan-European Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing (F\/A-18 Super Hornet), Lockheed Martin (F-35) have struggled with the project\u2019s rigid budgetary ceiling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The budget set for the HX project has been an issue for all bidders and candidate aircraft,\u201c said Maj. Gen. Kari Renko, the deputy chief of the Finnish Defense Force\u2019s Logistics Command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finland\u2019s recently-elected, conservative-left coalition government has shown no willingness or flexibility to deviate from the billion budget cap. The defense ministry has been instructed to look for a fighter replacement solution within the budgetary range of \u20ac7 billion to \u20ac10 billion, or $7.7 billion to $11.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever flexibility exists in the HX project will impact the number of fighter aircraft purchased and weapons selected as part of the total acquisition program to replace the air force\u2019s Boeing F\/A-18C\/D Hornets. The last of the service\u2019s Hornets are expected to be retired by 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defense ministry is seeking responses to the reviews request for quotations to be submitted by the end of January 2020. This will be followed by a request for final offers during the second half of 2020, a process that will commence after stage-two negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Finnish government plans to reach a decision on the HX fighter platform in 2021. The decision will cover the acquisition of a new aircraft, weapons, sensors, training, and spare parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bidders are expected to use their responses to the revised solicitation to clarify the industrial-cooperation elements of their respective offers. Finland is looking for a solution that will benefit the country\u2019s defense industry, and where parts and systems connected to the eventual contract will be produced under collaborative partnership contracts and joint venture agreements in Finland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defense officials have conceded that all five bidders have struggled with the project\u2019s rigid budgetary ceiling of $11.1 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3437],"class_list":["post-18175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NHWJ42ILHFGBRFZOVSPIVLPRS4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2019\/11\/05\/finland-warns-fighter-contenders-to-keep-their-budget-busting-offers-real\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n