{"id":61067,"date":"2017-12-05T14:05:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T14:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/05\/interview-gen-jarmo-lindberg-head-of-finlands-defence-forces\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:35:10","slug":"interview-gen-jarmo-lindberg-head-of-finlands-defence-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/interviews\/2017\/12\/05\/interview-gen-jarmo-lindberg-head-of-finlands-defence-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Gen. Jarmo Lindberg, head of Finland\u2019s Defence Forces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HALIFAX, Canada \u2014 As tension between Russia and NATO continues, Finland finds itself in a difficult position due to its shared border with Russia. While it remains unaligned with NATO, Finland is moving on a similar trajectory as many of its Western European neighbors, with plans to funnel more money into its defense budget and increase participation in training exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Jarmo Lindberg, head of Finland\u2019s Defence Forces, is charged with leading the country\u2019s military as it grows its reserve force and makes several large technology investments. During the Halifax International Security Forum in November, he spoke with Defense News about the country\u2019s top spending priorities and how it is responding to increased Russian military activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is Finland\u2019s defense budget changing? Are you seeing more investment? Are things very constrained?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a possibility for more dramatic change. So the previous government in Finland cut the defense budget by 10 percent, and we have cut a lot of procurement. We used to buy annually some \u20ac750 million (U.S. $892 million), plus or minus, and we were going down to around \u20ac500 million a year. But then this current government made the decision that they were going to return some of the procurement money, and they will ramp it up so we have some about \u20ac150 million more by the end of this decade. This will up the procurement of Army weapon systems and Army materiel because the life cycle is ending for a lot of Army systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the defense report that was finalized in June last year, the government stated that they are willing to fund strategic procurement programs first to the Navy, where six ships are going away, and they\u2019re going to be replaced by four multipurpose corvettes of about 100 meters. And the anticipated cost of that is \u20ac1.2 billion. Then the replacement of the F\/A-18C\/D Hornet fighters is due to happen between 2025 and 2030, and also in the defense report they wrote that they would reserve money between \u20ac7-10 billion for the fighter replacement. If all this will go through with the next government, then the Finnish Defence Forces are in a very stable situation where, at the moment, by the way, NATO counts the percentage of GDP. We put something like between 1.6-1.7 percent out of GDP. But if this goes through, what I\u2019m telling you now, for the next decade, with the strategic programs, we will be putting over 2 percent out of the GDP to do this. So there\u2019s a chance for a significant opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\t