The first ever deployment of a Finnish military unit as full part of NATO is a fact. On Tuesday 2 April, the mine encounter vessel MHC Vahterpää (42) sailed from its base in Turku (Pansio) to join the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1. This permanent fleet of rotating vessels operates mostly in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Norwegian Sea.
On 17 May 2022 Finland requested full NATO membership, an immediate reaction to the full-scale Russian invastion of Ukraine on 24 February that year. After all the formalities were done, Finland officially joined the military alliance on 4 April 2023.
Apart from the mine encounter vessel, Finnish F-18 Hornet fighter jets are ready to fly combat missions, in case requested – but so far they have been mainly protecting the Finnish aerospace. This is – of course – now also NATO airspace.
Finland is one of the few European countries that kept high military and civil preparedness levels, not forgetting the lessons learned from the Second World War. It includes keeping enough military assets, including its Leopard tanks (read the story “Finland afraid for its own safety, rather keeps its Leopard tanks than ship them to Ukraine” at Nordicreporter.com).
| © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured press photo by Puolustusvoimat (Finnish Armed Forces)