NMC framework agreement advances Finnish mine expertise

An international naval mines cooperation (NMC) project concerning the common procurement of naval mines has advanced to the framework agreement phase. As a representative of the lead nation, the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command has signed a contract in 25.6. with the Finnish company Forcit, on procuring the Blocker Influence Mine for the participating countries. So far Finland, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania and Norway have joined the project. The total value of the contract is hundreds of millions of Euros.

Selecting Finland as the lead nation of the naval mines cooperation project is a reflection of the Finnish Navy’s long-standing capability in naval mining and the high-quality of Finnish industry.  The purpose of the cooperation is to reinforce the naval defence of Allies. The cooperation is based on a Declaration of Intent signed in July 2024 and approved by many countries in the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions.
 

Aiming to strengthen maritime defence

Based on the 2024 Declaration of Intent, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland and Estonia have signed a Framework Agreement on the NMC project. Possible areas for cooperation include common procurement, naval cooperation, logistics, system operation and life cycle management, training and exercises, information exchange and weapon system development.

The importance of naval mines in defensive operations is widely recognised and the conditions in both the Baltic Sea and the North Sea are well-suited for naval mining.  Blocker, manufactured by Forcit Group, is a modern naval influence mine utilising state-of-the-art sensors that enables its flexible use in different maritime defence scenarios.

Naval mines cooperation supports the security of the Baltic Sea Region and the collective defence of the Allies in a situation where the importance of surveillance of maritime areas and maritime defence has increased.  The Finnish Navy has maintained a high expertise in naval mine-laying and consistently improved and developed the different areas of mine-laying capability, such as mines, the ability to lay mines, maintenance and logistics.  Finland also has the industrial capacity to produce modern naval mines.