Finnish defence forces might shrink to 250 000 soldiers next decade

[Kekkonen]

An interview with the Finnish Defence Forces commander in the Finnish soldiers' magazine Ruotuväki. I'm not going to translate it all since this probably is mainly interesting for the Finnish guys here that can read Finnish anyway.

http://www.mil.fi/ruotuvaki/index.ds...pid=63&aid=984

FDF might shrink to 250 000 soldiers


FDF commander in his office with some antique furniture, with a bigass
photo album of some kind.

With the prices today and the current defence budget Finland can not replace all the equipment that is becoming old, and buy new for the next decade. The Defence Forces have a good economy today, but because of the "production program" of the finance minister's department new solutions must be found in the future.

The shrinking of the resources might force the FDF to shrink it's mobilized force to 250 000 soldiers during the next decade, this is a guess from the FDF commander, admiral Juhani Kaskeala.

- You don't have to be a big thinker, when looking at the amount of the equipment that is getting old. With the prices today we can not afford to replace everything old with new and the forces will automatically shrink, Kaskeala says.

The equipment of the Armored brigade is getting old, the same with the equipment of the Infantry brigades, and part of the stored ammunition is getting old too. Kaskeala however doesn't see any risk with the shrinking.

- Well those 250 000 are probably enough in ten years. It will then be twice the amount of the other Nordic countries combined, and one of the largest defence forces in Europe.

The current planned strength of the FDF is 350 000 soldiers, during the 1990s it was still 500 000.

[signatory]

Kekkonen, do you have a break-down of Finland's military expenditure ? (How much @ personell, material, new procurements, R&D programs, intelligence gathering, pensions etc) If you can't find the info some guesses would be nice

[Lazarou]

250 000? How the hell are we going to take over the world with just 250 000 soldiers?

[Lurps]

LOL, i was just going to post this.. It could happen if the security enviroment develops in a stabile direction. But i believe its also related to this, lobbying for the missing money. They dropped the defence budget from 1,7% gdp to 1,3% gdp, when it should IMO, be in the european/nato standard 2,0% gdp level. http://www.mil.fi/paaesikunta/artikkelit/1814.dsp

[Uninen]

But, thats the peace time projectments, it doesnt change the fact that everybody will still be trained so on, just means that equipment / weapons will be maintained during peace time for those 250 000, but by simply putting €€€ on the table it would still be relatively easy to get needed hardware for the rest and deploying them in the time of crisis/war. IMHO.

[Uninen]

And if they plan to get more modern weapons like the trend is, there is less use for the "masses". All they need to do is to get realistic numebers of these modern weapons, like more modern MBT, IFV and AA GUN and SAM systems in larger quantities. Also different kinds of quided stand off weapons.

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by signatory

Kekkonen, do you have a break-down of Finland's military expenditure ? (How much @ personell, material, new procurements, R&D programs, intelligence gathering, pensions etc) If you can't find the info some guesses would be nice

Since mp.net has become gay and shrinks all pictures now I give you links to charts only;

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2282_div1.gif
Chart showing the division of defence spending

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2284_State1.gif
Division of total state expenditure

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2280_GDP1.gif
Share of defence budget of GDP

[Uninen]

"President of republic" gets more € than MOD? Thats FUBAR.

[signatory]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

Since mp.net has become gay and shrinks all pictures now I give you links to charts only;

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2282_div1.gif
Chart showing the division of defence spending

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2284_State1.gif
Division of total state expenditure

http://www.defmin.fi/chapter_images/2280_GDP1.gif
Share of defence budget of GDP

That was exactly what I was looking for thanks
A bit more then 25% on procurement. Here the FMV grabs over 50% so we have great material and no people to use them

(Ok that was too much generalisation but under a combination of various reasons it's more or less the reality)

[joka]

I think we should first join NATO and then gradually move towards the same system as Sweden ie. semi-voluntary conscription. But that's just me

[Uninen]

Originally Posted by joka

I think we should first join NATO

No, no and no. Ill burn my militarypass and return the ashes to HQ if this ever happens.

Originally Posted by joka

and then gradually move towards the same system as Sweden ie. semi-voluntary conscription.

Also no, but we could start using the same SYSTEMs, like buy hardware with Sweden to save on the costs.

Originally Posted by joka

But that's just me

Yeah, your SPECIAL.

[Greek soldier]

Originally Posted by Uninen

No, no and no. Ill burn my militarypass and return the ashes to HQ if this ever happens.

Also no, but we could start using the same SYSTEMs, like buy hardware with Sweden to save on the costs.

Yeah, your SPECIAL.

Aha! NOKIA collaborating with Ericsson!! Need to buy some stocks rightaway...

[Maskirovka]

Originally Posted by joka

I think we should first join NATO and then gradually move towards the same system as Sweden ie. semi-voluntary conscription. But that's just me

And I think Sweden should move more towards Finlands system ie. the main focus of the armed forces should be in defending the country and not netcentric-warfare-international-rapid-deployment-peacekeeping-forces-crap. Wanna switch country?

[joka]

Originally Posted by Uninen

No, no and no. Ill burn my militarypass and return the ashes to HQ if this ever happens.

Well now, I'll bet my dirty underwear that after ca. 2 hours we'll have a pro NATO president. Mind-boggling intense bets at stake here

edit. ok, he's for a "More European NATO" but he's still pro NATO.

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by joka

I think we should first join NATO and then gradually move towards the same system as Sweden ie. semi-voluntary conscription. But that's just me

So exactly in which way is the Swedish system a good one? Sweden spends about twice as much on defence as Finland does and gets less efficiency. Your "semi-voluntary conscription" would cost huge amounts of money, since those "semi-voluntary" conscripts would want something back... like money (otherwise they could just get a job instead of becoming "semi-voluntary").

Besides it looks like Halonen is winning. So luckily... no NATO for Finland just yet.