Reply With Quotesounds good
(Finnish) Foreign Minister Would Upgrade Defence Cooperation with Sweden
http://www.yle.fi/news/left/id51152.htmlForeign Minister Would Upgrade Defence Cooperation with Sweden
Published 13.01.2007, 18.04
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja says that Finland should consider considerable closer defence cooperation with neighbouring Sweden.
In an interview with YLE TV News on Saturday, Foreign Minister Tuomioja said that an examination should be made into whether Finland and Sweden could combine air and sea defence.
The foreign and defence ministers of Finland and Sweden will be holding an unofficial meeting in the city of Vantaa this coming Wednesday. It has been several years since such a gathering has taken place.
In Tuomioja's view, cooperation in controlling airspace, including air defence, with Sweden would be a natural move for Finland. He did stress, however that the meeting on Wednesday is an informal gathering which will review current issues.
Finland aware of Swedish-Norwegian plans
The Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Pertti Torstila, says that Finland is well aware of plans by Sweden and Norway to upgrade cooperation in the field of defence.
In a YLE TV discussion Saturday, Torstila said now that all three countries are involved in significant, major crisis management operations, it is a given that partners are being sought.
He pointed out that the threshold for cooperation between NATO and non-NATO countries is becoming lower all the time. Torstila added that he sees nothing dramatic about cooperation talks between Sweden and Norway. According to Torstila, Finland has been invited to take part in the discussions as well.
YLE
Finland and Sweden already share some maritime surveillance information real-time.
sounds good
I think that would be a great idea. AFAIK Sweden has a lot better air defences that we do, but especially in the future our ground forces will be stronger and situated better (from Swedish view) against you-know-who.
Good to hear some that actually still see the bear as a strategical threat, our defence chief of staff is disestablishing everything in the north so that he can spend more money on UN missions.
Now this is common sense. I like this idea a lot more than NATO membership. It would be cost-effective and suit our needs well.
Would that mean in practice that Swedish and Finnish jets would patrol over both countries? I don't want Saabs flying in my airspace...
I guess the question to ask is that do you want Sukhois and MiGs flying in you airspace in a ****-hits-the-fan situation or not.Originally Posted by oregano
Each year the two airforces hold at least one cross territorial exercise in the north so they already fly there buddy. But since Finnish jets can't deal with the best Russia has to offer I otoh share that concern.
Also I can't see that many advantages for Sweden in a even deeper cooperation with Finland. What exactly do we have to gain from this?
I guess the question to ask is that do you want Sukhois and MiGs flying in you airspace
I could imagine that at least financial savings. Today's aircraft aren't the cheapest to buy, operate or maintain. I suppose your security situation should be also better the stronger your eastern neighbor is. . As for Finnish jets not being able to handle russians...who says swedish jets can do it either? How many Sukhois or Migs has Gripen shot down?
Last edited by kosse; 01-14-2007 at 03:14 PM.
We don't have to shot them down, we just have to dive then pull up or we can do the "saxen" and see them crash
There's of course 100'ds of parameters and details to discuss but simply put:
SU-30 and SU-27 series come with larger and more powerful radars than the APG-73 of the Finnish hornets, they can also stay on station for longer times and has a far better BVR capability. Especially the Australians have done quite a bit of research into how their F-18s would cope with the new Russian jets.
Compared to the Finnish Hornets the Gripen's have >30% longer intercept range, better acceleration, and can seperate BVRAAM missiles at a higher speed while at the same time bring a significantly lower RCS and its nice detection range to the table. It's also more agile for dogfights. In short, the jet has better fundamental chances to come out as the winner. Technology typically will win over blind faith.
They also have a funded upgrade path including M-AESA radar and METEOR missile integration.
Sure looks good on paper...
Though it's weird how they get destroyed vs. norwegian F-16's in exercises.
Fair enough. So it looks like that the current aircraft you swedes have are more advanced and therefore it could be argued that cooperation would not make sense in short term considering your efficiency to fight our eastern "nemesis". How about in the future then? We need to get new aircraft at some point so this balance can change. Now I believe this joint air defense would mean almost surely getting common weapon systems once our current ones get too old. What would be a more natural choice than Swedish made aircraft? I think there are a lots to be gained for both sides in this if it's done right.
Off topic question: What ground-to-air missile systems does Sweden have?
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