NATO|NATO offers Ukraine new coordination assistance. It may sound like a cliché, but it is very significant, says Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen (Kok).
Finland plans to send 20 to 30 officers to NATO’s Norfolk Joint Operations Command in the next few years. The personnel will go on the journey already this year, says the Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (cook).
Häkkänen says that Finnish officers will leave as soon as the staff’s operational capacity has been reached to the point where more people can be accepted.
“All plans are now progressing well, including the planning of field-level operations,” says Häkkänen.
He refers, for example, to the officers’ residences.
In June, NATO’s defense ministers gave their political support for the transfer of Finland and other Nordic countries under the Norfolk joint operation command ladder. At the same time, Norfolk is growing.
Finland is currently under the command of the Brunssum joint operation in the Netherlands.
To Finland Accessing Norfolk together with the Nordic countries was one goal in NATO. Seeing the Nordic countries as a whole in NATO’s planning has been seen to bring synergistic benefits.
In addition, being part of Norfolk means a direct military link to NATO’s largest member country, the United States. It can be thought to be to Finland’s advantage – not least if the political commitment of the United States to NATO were to decrease in the next few years.
When Häkkänen is asked if there is such a benefit in the Norfolk connection, he answers that the defense arrangements are being built on many pillars. NATO is just one of them. A bilateral, strengthening relationship with the United States and also with, for example, Great Britain are important.
“These are exactly the multidimensional structure that if something comes up, we have many support legs.”
Häkkänen states that with the United States, the Norfolk issue is one dimension. In addition, cooperation deepens, for example, through material and technology cooperation and through defense cooperation agreements (DCA) concluded by Finland and other Nordic countries.
“So we will not wait until we are only dealing with the United States within NATO.”
Finland according to Häkkänen, is currently also considering participating in the operation of the new NATO leadership ladder being built in Wiesbaden, Germany.
A unit will be established in Wiesbaden to coordinate support for Ukraine under NATO. About 700 employees will be there. The purpose is for the union to take on a bigger role than at present, for example, in coordinating training and relief supplies.
Häkkänen says that the issue with Finns’ participation is, for example, whether exactly the kind of officers that Finland would have to offer are essential for the tasks in question. Häkkänen mentions, for example, maintenance and spare parts operations, where Finland has expertise.
Ukrainian increasingly NATO’s responsibility for the coordination of support is one of the means by which NATO tries to strengthen its support for Ukraine.
The matter was blessed at the meeting of the defense ministers and it is part of the package that will be offered to Ukraine at the summit in Washington next week. Häkkänen will participate in the meeting as president by Alexander Stubb in the delegation led by
Häkkänen says that the importance of coordination may sound like a cliché. However, he considers NATO’s new role “very significant and weighty”.
“I believe that this way, with Ukraine’s support, we will be able to remove the bottlenecks and problem areas that currently exist. Ukraine receives aid packages with a little delay or they have not been put together.”
As an example of the need for coordination, Häkkänen refers to deliveries of critical maintenance and spare parts needed by Ukraine. There are hundreds or thousands of spare parts even for the same devices, and they come from different countries.
Finland received political support at the defense minister’s meeting in June for the customized FLF model, i.e. the forces of NATO countries that would be present in Finland in the future.
The plans have a slightly different model than what currently exists in other eastern NATO countries. There would be permanent staff functions in Finland and the troops would rotate to train.
According to Häkkänen, discussions are now being held with different countries about which countries would participate and also about which country would be the so-called framework state in the model.
Häkkänen does not want to mention countries yet. The desired size of the presence is also not stated.
“But of course something can be learned from these Baltic and other permanent force structures, where the goal has been to raise those levels from battalion to brigade level.”
Yet At the beginning of Finland’s NATO struggle, the line was that Finland has its own strong ground forces and does not pursue multinational NATO forces, then called EFP forces.
Häkkänen says that after last summer’s meeting in Vilnius, Finland began to critically examine potential threat assessments and, for example, how Russia can act, for example, under Article 5, in long-term situations of military pressure.
The conclusion was that there is a need to strengthen presence tailored to Finland. On the other hand, the traditional construction of permanent troops and garrisons is not necessary.
“In part, the ideas developed, if you could say it that way.”
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