The Defence Forces are evaluating the possibility to purchase surface combatants for the Navy’s Squadron 2020 project from the shipyard of Rauma Marine Constructions. The combat system of the vessels will be competitively tendered as comprehensive deliveries and services. It will consist of a command and control system, sensors and weapons. Competitive tendering of combat system suppliers will be launched during 2016. The Squadron 2020 will reach a full operational readiness in 2026-27.
On 23.9.2016, the Minister of Defence gave the Defence Forces a mandate to start the Squadron 2020 project. According to the decision, it must be secured that the services which are required by and critical for the maintenance and repair of the Navy's capabilities are available in Finland.
The best conditions for these capacities - which include expertise, design knowledge and product rights - will be created when the vessels are designed and built on a domestic shipyard which would in the future also maintain and service the vessels.
More than 80 domestic and foreign suppliers responded to the request for information concerning the Squadron 2020 project. The Finnish Defence Forces' Logistics Command will start to evaluate whether Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) can be chosen for the project. This is why the Logistics Command has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the RMC through which the company's shipyard capacity, security of supply and other preconditions to build surface combatants can be assessed.
An independent expert company has been consulted to provide a preliminary assessment of procurement options and the RMC's capacity. The many research projects, simulations and model studies of the Navy and the Finnish Defence Forces' Logistics Command have created preconditions for technical specifications and domestic design to meet national special requirements.
The vessels will be designed primarily for the needs of national defence. The exact configuration of the combat system will be decided in the course of design but at least sea mines and missiles are likely to be included in the main weapon systems. The plan is to construct four vessels which will be capable of navigating through ice-covered waters. As to the Navy's current surface combatants, the life-cycle of four Rauma-class fast attack missile crafts and two Hämeenlinna-class minelayers will end by mid-2020s. Their life-cycle cannot be extended in a cost-efficient way.
INQUIRIES:
Captain (Navy) Veli-Pekka Heinonen, the Finnish Defence Forces' Logistics Command, tel.+358 299 800 (switchboard)
http://www.defmin.fi/en/administrative_branch/strategic_capability_projects/squadron_2020
