Finland and Sweden look at Israeli defense systems: Sources
TEL AVIV: Finland’s and Sweden’s now alleged intentions to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have already stimulated talks between these governments and Israel to buy advanced Israeli defense systems and weapons, according to defense sources here.
Both nations were already customers of Israeli defense companies, but the transition to NATO has accelerated negotiations and new deals are being discussed, sources said.
A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the report, saying “as a rule, we are not discussing arms deals.”
The potential deals come when Finland and Sweden are responsible for some form of retaliation from Russia over the expected NATO bids. Ironically, Russia used NATO’s expansion as a pretext for its Ukrainian misfortune.
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Sources say the two nations are considering Israeli radars, anti-tank systems and active protection systems for their armored ground platforms. A senior Israeli defense source told Breaking Defense that all Israeli defense systems use the Link 16 communication protocol, in line with the US and NATO systems, making interoperability a non-issue.
The talks follow a stream of announced agreements or ongoing agreements between Israel and the Scandinavian nations.
Finland announced in March, a competition for a new, advanced air defense system for two Israeli companies, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Systems, had been reduced. IAI offers the modular Barak MX system, while Rafael offers David’s Sling, which is currently part of Israel’s multilayer air defense system alongside the Iron Dome and the ballistic missile interceptor Arrow.
The same month in Sweden, Israel’s Elbit system announced it had won a contract worth about $ 27 million to supply the Swedish military with M339 tank ammunition and data setting units for its Leopard Main Battle Tanks. (A subsidiary of Elbit was named to sell the same tank ammunition to Finland earlier in the year.)
And previously, Elbit closed a deal to break the countermeasure system for the Swedish fleet – a deal made by Elbit’s yearling a Sweden-based subsidiary, a sign of how secure the Israeli company is in its operations with its new customer in the north.