The Border Guard has received everything it asked for and a little more, writes journalist Jarmo Huhtanen who follows security policy.
“Raja railona opens. In front of Asia, East. Behind the West and Europe: I guard, guard, that.”
Uuno Kaila At the border-the beginning of the poem is familiar to most Finns. Kailas was a patriotic poet. In his time, the threat came from the east.
Almost a hundred years after the poem was written, the threat model has not changed.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine caused national defense to become the center of the nation’s security.
The role of another militarily organized security organization, the Border Guard, has been overshadowed by the discussion between the Defense Forces and NATO.
Finland is currently investing in its border security with downright historic vigor.
The Border Guard has actually gotten everything it wanted and a little more. In some respects, we can almost talk about the updated version of the Border Guard: Border 2.0.
The easternmost point of the EU is in Ilomantsi. Last summer, senior border guards Jouni Karvonen (left) and Jussi Harinen and border dog Enni visited there.
Ministry of the Interior The tasks of the subordinate Border Guard, or more familiarly known as the Border, are more versatile than one might think.
The Border Guard is a security authority whose duties include not only border surveillance and border inspections, but also environmental damage prevention, criminal investigation, maritime rescue and, of course, national defense.
The security political spirit of our time is characterized by the fact that Raja is making a return to its roots in the early years of Finland’s independence, when the focus of its activities was specifically on tightening the control of the eastern border.
The rise in the profile of the Border Guard has accelerated during the last three years, when Finland and the world have lived through exceptional times.
First came the coronavirus pandemic and with it health security measures for border crossings.
Then the crisis in Belarus heated up, as a result of which Poland and the Baltic countries began to build fences on the borders, so that Belarus and Russia could not use migrants as a means of pressure.
In Finland, too, a fierce debate started about whether the eastern border should be fenced here as well.
The effectiveness of the fence was doubted up to the Border Guard, but in the end Russia’s attack on Ukraine caused such a big change in the security situation that the Border Guard took a positive stance on fencing.
Border Guard chief, lieutenant-general Pasi Kostamovaara admits to HS that the profile of the Border Guard has risen.
“The Border Guard is doing very well during this time. Purposeful development work has been possible,” he says.
Is the new arrival of the Border Guard to thank the dictators of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko?
“When there is a war in the nearby areas, it certainly increases the awareness of the Border Guard’s activities,” Kostamovaara answers.
“Threats and situations are very concrete and almost always at hand. Not just preparing, but doing all the time.”
To the Border Guard betting is most clearly seen in investments. The most significant of these relate to ship and aircraft purchases and the technical control of land and sea borders. The most visible part of the land border will be the construction of the eastern border fence, which will start this year.
Read more: The construction of the eastern border fence will start in the spring and will cost 380 million euros
Two new patrol ships are currently being planned for the Border Guard, which will be commissioned in 2025–2026. Parliament has allocated 448 million euros for their purchase.
The new, nearly hundred-meter-long ships are clearly larger than their predecessors and the decommissioned guard ships Tursas and Uisko.
The border vessel renovations have not only been limited to the largest vessels, as the border and sea guards have just received new 20-meter coast guard boats intended for year-round use.
Observation picture of the new outer guard ship. The hulls of the ships are built in Poland and the finishing work is done in Finland.
The Border Guard is taking a significant leap forward in aerial surveillance. Raja plans to replace its existing two Dornier aircraft with new aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment.
The choice of aircraft type has not yet been made, but it is known that the current Propellers will be replaced by jets. The final selection will be made next year. 163 million euros have been allocated for the purchase of machines.
The Border Guard’s aerial sea rescue capability has also been developed. In the last decade, new Super Puma helicopters were acquired and thoroughly modernized.
Two years ago, when the last modified helicopter arrived in Finland, the Border Guard advertised that thanks to the current five Super Pumas, the maritime rescue capability of the patrol squadron is better than ever before.
Risk of retaliation says that new patrol ships and aircraft are “one-time investments made every 30-40 years”.
“Now we only have the kind of fog here that horrified even us, but we just had to put them forward, because they are completely necessary performances.”
Kostamovaara’s arguments are the same as those used by the Finnish Defense Forces when it recently bought billions of euros in new fighter jets and warships as the sharp edge of national defense.
The most interesting and the least publicized reform is the renewal of Finland’s technical land and sea surveillance system.
The technical control system of land borders is known by the abbreviation mrtv. The system, already created in the 1990s, is considered technically outdated.
In practice, mrtv consists of software and a sensor and location information system that warns of unauthorized border crossings. It includes, among other things, various cameras, probes and motion detectors.
The new fence being built on the eastern border – the eastern border barrier as Raja calls it – will cause changes to the mrtv system.
The Border Guard’s latest action plan for the years 2024–2027 states that the construction of the eastern border barrier “will multiply the amount of control technology used and maintained on the eastern border”.
The plan states that “portable monitoring cells, autonomous systems and sensors/systems capable of pattern recognition will gradually be put into operational use”.
Observation picture of the future fence to be built on the eastern border. The first phase is a three kilometer long pilot fence that will be built in Imatra. The share costs six million euros.
Border Guard the action plan is an interesting read. It shows, for example, that the use of unmanned aircraft, i.e. drones and quadcopters, is planned to be further increased.
Among other things, the plans mention preparation for the project aimed at the acquisition of “the Border Guard’s own heavy unmanned aerial vehicles”.
In addition, the Border Guard Agency will be built to detect and combat unmanned aerial vehicles. This is a topic that has gained special interest since the war in Ukraine.
The activities related to the military national defense of the border are going to be sharpened. According to Raja’s action plan, the number of repetition exercises is to be increased “significantly”.
Border Guard development plans are not only about material preparation. The department has also systematically increased the number of its personnel.
The number of employees will rise to 3,000 next year, i.e. the goal mentioned in the 2021 report on the Government’s internal security.
According to Kostamovaara, the current security environment has caused the need to increase personnel “moderately”. Chapter 3,100 is already mentioned in the action plan.
The head of the Border Guard is also satisfied with how legislation has recently been developed to reflect the changed security environment.
“Here, we have to be satisfied with how we have been treated,” says Kostamovaara.
“You can’t just blame.”
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