Finland chooses Lockheed Martin F-35A in a giant deal
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Finland has agreed to buy 64 Lockheed Martin fighter jets to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets in a € 10 billion ($ 11.3 billion) deal representing the Finnish military’s largest purchase ever, said the government on Friday.
Finland selected the US company’s F-35A fighter jet from five challengers, which also included the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale from France, the UK’s Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen from Sweden.
The Finnish Air Force has a fleet of more than 60 F-18 Hornets acquired from McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s. It started looking for a subsequent aircraft in 2014.
The Ministry of Defense said on Friday that the price tag for the deal with Lockheed Martin includes training and other equipment.
EU member Finland is a military non-aligned nation but works closely with NATO in a way similar to neighboring Sweden.
Switzerland, another military non-aligned European country, and NATO members Denmark and Norway previously decided to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35.
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, has increased its bilateral defense and military cooperation with both Sweden and the United States in recent years.