Finnish Air Force Capt Juha Jarvinen lands an F/A-18C assigned to Marine Strike Fighter Training Squadron (VMFAT) 101 ‘Sharpshooters’ on the USS ‘Abraham
Lincoln’ (CVN 72) last March 17. This was the fi rst time a Finnish pilot had performed an arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier. US Navy/Mass Communication
Specialist 1st Class Brian M WilburFinnish Air Force at 100
82 // OCTOBER 2018 #367 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comsecond-hand equipment, engaging local
industry to upgrade the aircraft for service.
Patria Aviation was contracted to provide
a new digital cockpit upgrade. Designed,
manufactured and tested by the firm, the
new equipment is currently being installed
on the first aircraft (UK registration G-CGKA/
Ilmavoimat serial GO-1) at the Patria
plant at Halli airfield in central Finland.
This particular proof-of-concept prototype
was due to be delivered to the Ilmavoimat for
acceptance testing in August. Some airframes
are already undergoing modification at Halli
while the remainder are in store at the Patria
facility at Tikkakoski, waiting to go to Halli.HX and the future
Not surprisingly, Patria Aviation is a strategic
partner in the HX programme and for the
past three years has been advising the
government on eight key elements of the
project. These include the platform itself,
through-life costs, weapon systems, required
training equipment, personnel training,
command and control systems, maintenance
and domestic industry’s potential role.
The company is also able to make
recommendations to each competing
manufacturer as to how to submit proposals
to the government to ensure all parties
understand specific local requirements.
Patria’s president, Martti Wallin, explained
that all five bidders have been advised that
a pivotal factor in the overall programme is a
requirement for a 30-year sustainment package
covering not only maintenance, servicing
and potential upgrades but, increasingly,
the required support for electronic warfare
systems and mission data functionality too.
Col Juha-Pekka Keranen, a former
Ilmavoimat Hawk and Hornet pilot and now
head of the HX procurement programme,
has set tough criteria: “Currently the
operation and sustainment costs of the
Hornet fleet does not exceed 10% of the
overall €2.4bn defence force costs, and
its replacement will not be allowed to
exceed this,” he said, adding that this figure
excludes any potential mid-life updates
which will have to be financed individually.
HX began in earnest with a request for
information (RFI) in 2016, and has now
progressed to a request for quote (RFQ), which
was issued on April 27, 2018. A capabilityand evaluation phase of all five contenders
will start in 2019 after the quotes are in and
a live flying phase is expected to be subject
to numerous as yet undeclared conditions.
The Finnish government has already
stated that there will be no ‘down
selection’ (shortlist) and that an outright
winner will be announced in 2021.
Wallin says Patria is in negotiations with
all five HX contenders individually and
has prepared five different sustainment
packages for the successful bidder. A
fundamental clause in the programme is afixed requirement that 30% of the contracted
monetary value will relate to direct and indirect
industrial participation by Finnish industry.
With this consideration, Patria is well
placed to participate in one way or
another – which could include anything
from providing a fully qualified, technically
capable workforce through to component
manufacture or even final assembly and
test flying of complete airframes.
If this last option is called for, Wallin
says Patria would consider building a
complete new facility for the task.Above: Finland is playing an increasingly active role in international exercises. Here, soldiers from the
US Army’s 10th Combat Aviation Brigade are fuelling a Finnish F/A-18C at Lielvārde air base, Latvia, in
May last year. The jet and crew successfully completed tests of the base’s landing strip and braking
functions, certifying it for use by other NATO forces’ jets in the future. US Army/Spc Thomas Scaggs
Below: F/A-18C HN-408 demonstrates the MLU2 upgrade’s enhanced air-to-ground capability, which
includes the GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and AGM-154C Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)
seen here. The programme also incorporated the AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM, complementing the AIM-9X and
Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) added under MLU1. Derek BowerAFM80-82 Finland AFM Oct2018.indd 82 9/10/2018 11:22:48 AM