Increased budget to strengthen Finland's defence capabilities

The Increased budget for the Finnish Defence Forces will strengthen Finland's defence capabilities and the defence forces' preparedness, according to Defence Minister and the Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces.

The government on Tuesday agreed to increase Finland's military spending by 2.2 billion euros in the next three years.

Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen and Commander of Defence Forces General Timo Kivinen on Wednesday held a press conference where they described the planning to do with the increased budget.

“Finland has decided on a significant increase to our defence budget. We will strengthen our defence with both material and military personnel. We Finns are willing and able to defend our homeland,” Kaikkonen said.

At the press conference, Finnish Defence Forces, General Timo Kivinen, stressed the need to improve defence capabilities independently of the security policy debate in Finland, said Finnish Defence Forces in a press release.

“Each country must be prepared for the challenges of the security environment. These needs are not eliminated by enhanced international defence cooperation or a possible application for membership of the NATO defence alliance,” he said.

The Finnish Defence Forces have built up and developed Finland's defence capabilities in the long term. The main task of the Finnish Defence Forces is to defend Finland militarily and Russia's aggression in Ukraine has shown how important national defence capabilities are.

The Finnish Defence Forces' appropriations will be increased from 2023. The appropriations will be allocated, among other things, to personnel, rehearsal exercises and procurement of defence equipment, as well as to the Defence Forces' operations and preparedness.

Appropriations will be increased by approximately EUR 788 million in 2023 and by around EUR 408-536 million per year in 2024-2026.

In addition, the government has decided that the defence budget will be increased by about EUR 700 million in the second supplementary budget for spring 2022. The content of these additional resource needs will be specified in the spring.

The additional funding will make it possible to improve Finland's defence capabilities and the preparedness of the Defence Forces.

Finland does not currently face an immediate military threat, but the Defence Forces must have a sufficiently rapid preparedness and ability to act in a long-term and large-scale military crisis.

According to the government's Defence Report, the number of personnel in the Armed Forces will gradually increase by 500 man-years from 2022.

The supplements apply to all staff working groups. Already in 2022, the number of contract soldiers will be increased and temporary civilians will be hired for the years 2022-2023.

The number of reservists trained in rehearsal exercises will increase by about 50 percent from 2022.

The number of reservists to be trained will increase by about 9,000 to 10,000 reservists from the previously planned 19,000 reservists.

The EUR 3.2 million increase in state aid to national defence organisations will further support Finland's defence capabilities and overall security.

The procurement of defence equipment meets the requirements of the changing operating environment, ensures access to critical material and complements long-term deficits.

The procurements will focus, among other things, on anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, fighter aircraft equipment, artillery ammunition, field maintenance materials and anti-aircraft missiles.

In addition, the acquisitions will strengthen intelligence capabilities, cyber defence and night vision capabilities. The acquisition and distribution of new drone features will be accelerated.

The procurement considers the normal development of the Defence Forces, which will continue in parallel with the further acquisitions that are now being made.

In addition to equipment procurement, for example, the usability of the Defence Forces' equipment is improved by allocating additional resources to maintenance and, for example, increased spare parts and replacement equipment stocks.