Finnish Defence Forces | Operational Quantities of Equipment 2024 | How strong is Finland's Defence?

[@MilitaryRated]

Which country or group's armed forces should we do next? I'd be honored if you'd hit that subscribe button.

[@sysghost]

Sweden That list will be really short. To make the vio long enough for KZbin minimum you might have to put in Norway too.

[@JK-cn5tx]

Finland's wartime strength is 280 000.

[@Tehoboo]

Finland can mobilise almost 1 million men. We are a country with army

[@butterflies655]

The Finnish Defence Forces' reserve comprises approximately 900,000 Finnish citizens. Finland's population is 5,5 million.

[@silentblackhole]

Australia whos in the top 20 militaries in the world but you might not have known that.

[@lonpfrb]

A story from the Winter War: Esko, an infantry soldier looks at the approaching column of invaders. Juha, his buddy says There are so many of them. Esko, says We are just a small country. Juha says True. Where will we bury them? Esko, says I don't know. We will do our best. And they did bury the invaders, in large numbers.

[@MilitaryRated]

As you can all probably notice, there's quite a few inflammatory comments from pro-Russian posters in the comments. I'm working hard at moderating, but please bear with me. I must've hit a nerve.

[@lynxissiodorensis2319]

Correction: Finland's wartime military strength is not 180'000, but 280'000 personnel.

[@DiabloManiacz]

You might want to post your reference! Every single site from Wikipedia to Finnish government & military site says active wartime military is 280000. Reserve strength in total is officially 900-1M.

[@vaisto3220]

Yes, though I think 180 000 was for the Army (Maavoimat), excluding the Air Force, Navy and others.

[@r3dst0rm308]

@@DiabloManiacz The 900 000 - 1 000 000 is a hypothetical reserve more like. But ofc if the russians attack us every male fit for military service will be needed.

[@dodoarmy8515]

The reserve is also larger since we have conscription and most men have recieved military training In war we could get a lot more forces then on paper

[@lonpfrb]

@@dodoarmy8515 As Ukraine has shown, never underestimate the homeland defence. Hyvaa Suomi! Slava Ukraine!

[@gherkamum]

Finland big respect love from the UK.🇬🇧

[@paanikki]

There are countless reasons why certain types and numbers of military hardware may be deliberately left out of publicly available statistics. This is why one should always be sceptical with numbers and types of military hardware. During the cold war, Finland could only have certain amount of fighter aircraft because of the regulations of the 1947 Paris peace treaty. Finnish Air Force had a squadron of Soviet-made Mig 21 and 2 squadrons of Swedish-made Saab 35 Draken fighters. Finland trained MUCH more Draken pilots than what was needed to operate the Finnish Drakens. Finland also secretly paid the Swedish Air Force for storage and maintenance of a much larger number of "Swedish" Saab 35 Drakens in Swedish Air bases. If there had been a war in Finland, those aircraft would have been marked with Finnish Air force markings, and flown by Finnish pilots. Finland purchased a fleet of F-18C, (not F/A) Hornet fighters in 1995. They only became F/A-18 several years later, when they were upgraded, including air-to-ground capabilities. During the puchase process, Finland was still under the regulations of the Paris peace Treaty. In 1990, Finland unilaterally calcelled the restrictions put on the Finnish military (other than nuclear weapons), But the F-18 purchase process had been started before this.

[@mikkorenvall428]

And finnish airforce has adapted its operations to that size, so those new F-35s are not procured any more than the F-18 is, so the air force has no growth opportunity/need.

[@riverside6836]

One more thing. Finland has conscription system. Almost all males have the training. They have about 800 000 to 900 000 trained people in reserve.

[@herptek]

This is in line with what is stated in the video. If we want to field any number aproaching that during war it would be prudent to scale up the amount of materiel as well, most notably when it comes to artillery weapons. Firepower formerly provided by 130mm and 152mm towed artillery must be provided by some other way after getting rid of them. Increase of domestic or other western designed artillery, towed or truck mounted, should do it in large enough scale. MLRS and high-end 155mm self-propelled artillery systems can only get us so far due to their cost and relatively few numbers.

[@MilitaryRated]

I think the number I've seen bandied around is that something like 1.5 million fighting age men and women have received training in Finland. Remove some with disability, illness and so forth, and it's still one of the largest capable reserves in Europe. The video states 870.000, as per Finland's official figures.

[@kissanruokaa]

Actually pretty much every man in Finland is a trained soldier, so the actual number of trained people in here is a LOT more :) Excluding the civil service people that dont want to go to the army and disabilities ofcourse :) But yeah to be exact, the reserves could be "officially" like that, but better for me to not say more :D

[@herptek]

@@kissanruokaa The single biggest limiting factor of the size of the reserve is the age of the reservists. You can't make an effective army out of the elderly. 870 000 is already a huge proportion of male population in a country as small as Finland.

[@KasperiVonSchrowe]

@@herptek I am 52 years old. And I am certain that I'm more capable soldier than 75% of 20 year olds. You are right to some point but today's Playstation-hamburger generation is not that fit than a big number of middle-aged men that keep themselves fit.

[@TheChironexxxx]

Finland is not just country its Army !

[@fourseen4513]

finland is more than an army its a BUNKER xd, and they are ready.

[@AugerHybrid]

As a Finn, I'll start using this phrase.

[@TheAns51]

@@fourseen4513 This is true. Finland has a shitload of bunkers and bomb shelter. Basically every apartment building has short term (few days to a months) survival bunker that fits every resident that building has. And many real bomb shelters that can withstand nuclear bombings (mostly build after ww2 and during cold war) that are now used as a sports center or something public but can be fairly quickly convert to working shelter and many underground parking garages are bomb shelters too.

[@davemanning6424]

Man for man , the fins would have no trouble dealing with Russia's corrupt rabble army !

[@fourseen4513]

@@TheAns51 i read after wwII finland was the only land to invest into defense budgets most other lands invested in attacking power.

[@Julie-g3u]

I am really grateful to see all of Finland's military weapons, people, vehicles etc. I am so glad you are so well prepared & train your troops . Thanks to Finland 🇫🇮 also glad you are prepared right ACROSS THE MILITARY. New Zealand 🇳🇿.

[@ramiaubourg6945]

There is only one mistake: wartime strength is 280 000 soldiers. Not 180 000

[@harrikuusjarvi3795]

Wartime strenght is 280 000men/women and reserves 870 000. Can be way over million if we need men over 50year old. They are called home reserve and number is around 300 000+ trained reserves more. Its volunteer to go war after 50year old but if situation needed its not volunteer any more. Sure less healty person in that group but mostly people are pretty good shape.

[@josemoreno3334]

Welcome to NATO. Love from the USA.

[@themarqq]

One thing what forgot to mention is Navy will get 4 corvettes soon.

[@MilitaryRated]

Yep, and the discussion around not getting the David's Sling seems to be ongoing due to what's going on in the Middle East. I'll do another video about Finland later in the year where the budgets, allocations and soldier NATO-loadout is listed. Norway, Sweden and Finland are all trying to streamline things after Nordic Response, so expect changes.

[@efz629]

Sometimes in 2032.

[@themarqq]

@@efz629 first one is ready end of 2024 and last one 2027. EDIT. It takes 2 year after ship is ready to get it to active use.

[@efz629]

@@themarqq Popparit valmiina.

[@herptek]

@@MilitaryRated Hopefully they don't do changes for the worse for rash reasons.

[@kai7778.]

That is quite accurate analysis of our Finland Finnish Armed Forces. Thank you! Finland is not an medieval state; Finland has uppgraded its Special Forces in accordance to Israeli Sayeret Matkal. Scandinavia is slowing like turtles in military speaking. Finland's hope and analyses are not heard in Scandinavia SO Finland is obliged to seek military partnership with Israel which can produce state of the art weoponry for Finland.

[@Suojeluninja]

FiAF has a total of 5 active military airports; Rovaniemi, Tikkakoski, Pirkkala, Rissala and Halli. The latter is mostly just used for test flights and stuff but it is a active military airport. Not 3.

[@swe-finsisu172]

Finland also use road system with big F/A18 as sweden, hope its work with F35 too..

[@acgsmith5937]

I'd say that Finland has some hot looking soldiers.

[@peketee2278]

yes, and now there are also women in our army😅

[@mightyfabulous]

You may watch, but not touch.

[@tikitakutakutaku578]

We strong!

[@herptek]

Nice, but this isn't the conclusive list of all equipment by any means. A whole lot of things even in fairly recent training use are missing, but I guess for these kinds of compilations it is impossible to include everything based on easily found public knowlege alone. Certain niche equipment is included in this, such as small batches of small drones of specific types, but some more mainstay systems don't seem to be listed. Strength of the wartime defence forces is, if anyone is wondering, 280 000 personnel of army, navy, air force and the border guard.

[@MilitaryRated]

Thanks for your comment. Yes, as with most armies it's almost impossible to list all equipment due to some of it being either phased out, phased in very recently or simply secret. We've left out small arms and mines etc in this comp for this very reason. Where we can find it, we aim to list the equipment, or else we'll list why we didn't as in the description in this video. :)

[@Exophobia]

I want to add 'decommisioned' towed artillery, tracked IFV's etc that are and have been used for spare parts and maintenance. At one point(late 1990's, early 2000's) the logistics department of the finnish defence forces didn't have enough funding for the upkeep of these systems so they did a 'peacetime decommission', meaning that they are only missing essential parts to make them work. The FDF did not have that much funding during that time. These 'peacetime decommisioned' items (towed artillery, tracked vehicles, other artillery and mortars) are never included in the list of equipment because it is not mandated by Finnish/EU law. Now due to the increased security risks and actual risk of war, I have a strong suspicion a lot of these old 'decommisioned' items are being commisioned and fixed. Source: Worked for the logistics/engineering department of the FDF Army and Navy for several years and have personally seen stocks of systems that are not listed anywhere. It is definitely not a secret, you can talk to a lot of conscripts and even professional soldiers and they can confirm the same (from all over Finland). It just not widely spoken about/liked to be talked about. :)

[@Exophobia]

@@MilitaryRatedOh and I want to add a comment to the Artillery stockpile: Yes, Finland has the largest stockpile atleast of Europes NATO allies. Our wartime&peacetime doctrine mandates it. The amount off 122mm and 155mm artillery shells on hand has to be what our doctrine expects to spend during a military confrontation with Russia. There was a study done by Cadets from the Finnish National Defence University comparing the amount of 155mm artillery shells shot each day in Ukraine - to what it would in a hypothetical situation in Finland. An estimate from 3500 to 5500 shells/day would only be sufficient to defend and not to deter a possible attack. They hypothized that an estimate of double of that (7000-11000)shells would need to be ON HAND before ANY confrontation. So while there are no official number of how many shells we have, you can do the math. It is an absolutely insane amount for such a small country. That is why artillery rules the battlefield and why it is so deep in our military doctrine. -S

[@MilitaryRated]

Definitely agreed. The only issue on the artillery front for Finland might be the old systems' ammunition size. 152mm is a highly sought after commodity these days, and the mothballed ex-Soviet equipment at least runs on outdated shells. IFV's, APC's, naval artillery etc for sure. Finland's ace (as well as Norway and Sweden) is that they have the capability to repair and restock their kit from their own production facilities. The sheer volume of Sisu vehicles inside old hangars and storage facilities in Finland is staggering.

[@Exophobia]

@@MilitaryRatedVery true!

[@nicholasleaf3646]

I was wondering, why didn't you include MBRs to this video? Or the Nordic country video?

[@MilitaryRated]

Several reasons, firstly because main battle rifles are widely different across home guards, special forces, normal army, military police etc, it would take a lot of digging and likely be wrong anyway because when you’re deployed you often end up buying your own rifle and kit anyway. Secondly because gun-content has its limitations on KZbin, thirdly because I’d also then feel the urge to post all the other stuff, uniforms, armour, helmets, gloves +++ and I think people would lose interest.

[@GenghisVern]

lol I just subscribed to a Norwegian channel. This is great. A few really good videos here, excellent summaries, and I like the thumbnails 😉

[@MilitaryRated]

Welcome aboard brother!

[@SpectralUltra]

David's sling! Nice.

[@airborneranger-ret]

Liked and subbed. Please cover the CAT exercises in Latvia. Nordic counties are involved. "'CAT 24' tank trials under way in Latvia"

[@bryansammis998]

And if they’re trained like the hero character in the film SISU. The Russians better be taking it in the shorts!!

[@tompabay8721]

The Finns out there Braging.

[@tompabay8721]

😶‍🌫️🥸

[@FunnyDodoBird-be5ob]

How much ammunition though

[@jannepitkanen9129]

Living next to russia, believe me. We have.

[@lonpfrb]

Precision fire is more effective than the Soviet high volume fire as demonstrated in Ukraine. So quality and quantity matters. Forward observation and precision fire stops the bear in its' tracks.

[@henriikkak2091]

We produce our own

[@williamkumlander8425]

we say kiitos not keatoes, but good video

[@TheAns51]

Well americans pronounce it like that.

[@filmfinland9691]

me sanomme potaatti ei potatoes

[@Fido-dz1sq]

Oo hiljaa pilkun nussia.. Comments like this is very annoying. Have u listened to yourself when u speak ENGLISH? Pistä naama kii

[@hurri7720]

No more like keetos or keytos.

[@mightyfabulous]

@@hurri7720 [keytos] makes closest call IMHO.

[@michaelallison1255]

How about Portugal!

[@TeroPajunen]

I'm more concerned of the hybrid warfare - which can't be complied with the conventional military forces.

[@An7ero]

In Finland there isn’t a stone left unturned when talking about readiness to keep the civilians safe and the society up and running.

[@axelv1753]

At least it is harder for 'little green men' to show up in large numbers and pretend to be finish!

[@henriikkak2091]

Yes, attacks on energy infrastructure, cyber, and such. I would argue that Finland has built some resilience against influence attempts over the past decades.

[@tikitakutakutaku578]

Also we have commitment that every capable man is in army hole lifetime, it is law.

[@lonpfrb]

Don't forget Sisu either..

[@VeXu666]

6:47 it's "HAMINA" not hamima.

[@MilitaryRated]

Thanks - yeah the Finnish language is hard, to say the least! :)

[@buKzone]

+ girlpower

[@herptek]

Not really. Finland does not conscript women. Overwhelming majority of the reserves are men.

[@JWS-66]

if the F-35 comes in service, wil they keep the F-18?

[@CorporalCookie]

Currently no plans to keep the F/A-18 in active service, the F-35 will take up all the capacity. They'll either be put into storage so they can be pulled out later or sold.

[@JWS-66]

@@CorporalCookie 👍

[@vmasing1965]

For American's to understand the situation between Russia and Finland, imagine it's Vietnam who starts the Vietnam war by invading America. You fight bravely, you win all the battles but still lose the war AND THEN Vietnam claims 10% of your territory on top of it. Now you know how motivated Finnish army is when it comes to Russians. Finns don't forget injustice easily and this is a factor nobody can measure or calculate in armed conflict. You can only see it in the results. _Perkele Ryssa!_

[@mightyfabulous]

What are you talking about, "win all the battles but still lose the war..."??? If you mean "Winter War", Finns did get some epic success, BUT as hopelessly smaller force, especially on heavy weapons + ammo, lost the war on the main battle arena as Soviets learned by trial and error despite their high casualties. And what a failure for Finnish foreign policy as they got to stand ALONE against 40 times larger nation? How desperate was that? And please don't draw too much conclusions to the similarities with the War in Ukraine. Different times, different factors and actors, different motives, different proportions.

[@nickstoic2944]

Time to upgrade its weapons. In order to do that it needs to use most of it to purchase new ones.

[@markkuhirvonen7788]

We are now in Nato. We walk never alone again.

[@kimkristensen2816]

Findland does not have its own C17 Globemaster

[@MilitaryRated]

As with all other participants of the SAC-project they have access to one if needed.

[@motoquasi]

Finland should have bought Gripen instead of F-35.

[@JYRIVIRMA]

Terrible music. Catastrophically destroys this fine narrative

[@petter5721]

It is less than 600000 in total

[@Colin-Fenix]

I like the video, but quit with the thumbnail!

[@patclark2186]

The upside is indeed better than most. Findlad can protect itself from any one short of Russia The downside is that there is little ability to project power and come to the aid of another NATO nation; and that's what NATO is supposed to be about-collective defense.

[@MilitaryRated]

I don't think this is necessarily true. Finland has more troop movement equipment than pretty much any other NATO nation of their size. Norway and Sweden is a stone's throw away, and Finland recently moved several battalions to Norway to train. They also have capability to reinforce the Baltics. Once their F-35s start arriving at the end of this year they'll also integrate with the other Nordic countries when it comes to air bases and intel, where all Nordic assets will connect to the same data-hubs and be able to land in any air field in the Nordics. It'll likely be the most advanced collective air force in Europe.

[@jakhamar55]

You sold your soul to the usa. You will come to regret it. Should have stuck to making snow tires.

[@gyderian9435]

Nato frontline countries can't and shouldn't leave the front open, it's up to the countries in the back (USA, Canada, west Europe) to be the movable parts

[@patclark2186]

@@gyderian9435 That makes sense. .. Hmm.. So if North Korea or China were to shoot Hypersonic missiles at say ..Finland . Nato Article V would be invoked and the US would be at war. But .. if Hawaii comes under attack by China or N Korea,..then Sweden and Finland will protect Europe ...from Russia. Seems kinda one sided to me.

[@lonpfrb]

Don;t forget the NATO Joint Expeditionary Force and the Advanced Forward Presence that supports the Baltic countries. The Baltic is a NATO Sea. Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway a Nordic Power.

[@perskeles100]

And we have sisu and sauna

[@pona61]

Heiluppa siinä Ihmisen lapsi. Nyky menoo vai naapuri mikä sanoo et yhtä tyhjä olet 🤔 No pidetään tämä raja ⚘️

[@peterjaniceforan3080]

🇫🇮🫡

[@Roska1195]

ei se kyllä tältä näyttäny intis xD

[@TheAns51]

Riippuu missä kävi intin😅

[@JohnTavastian]

No eihän ne meille varastojaan näytä

[@jankk0bee653]

Joo, ainaki Sodankylässä oli meleko rankkaa meininkiä... .D

[@SahramiSaukko]

Ainaki Rollon spollenaisissa oli pari kaunista ja pari tosi sööttiä yksilöä siihen päälle. Vai mistä puhut? :o

[@martinjukijyrkinen597]

[@FunnyDodoBird-be5ob]

Everyone gets a ride in there military 😂

[@NUMMEHARBEN]

their not there

[@StPaul76]

Oh.. By the looks of the media our army nowadays consists of blonde girls.. Ok.. Go girls! You'll kick ass just like in them movies! Voi wittu mä vaan sanon tätä paskan määrää.. :D

[@MilitaryRated]

Fun story, I've been absolutely owned at a shooting range by three blonde Finnish army women firing their superior Sako TRG 42 rifles over my L96. An army is strong when one plays at the strength of each individual, and you've got plenty of strong women (and men) in Finland. It's an advantage, not a disability.

[@StPaul76]

@@MilitaryRated Uskossa on hyvä elää.. If a 110lb girl can survive the rigors of infantry training in the modern FDF it simply means that the levels of excellence have been decreased. I served myself the hardway back in the day. It has a long time ago declared a national problem that our conscript-boys are too fat and too weak. So only thing to be done was to severely lower the demands of the training. Excactly the same or even worse situation in the once admired British Army, The Bundeswehr and of course the Yanks. Why argue with a messenger of a widely admitted fact.? This girl in the pic will as certain as sun rises tomorrow not carry 90lbs.of gear plus ammo for 30kms.. Neither will a fluffy fat little boy for that matter.

[@cassu6]

@@StPaul76 You're being ridiculous. Women can absolutely carry what they are required. Often times the women who volunteer are better than 70% of the men because they're actually super motivated and want to be there. When I was in the women who didn't quit were awesome soldiers to work with.

[@stevejeffries5843]

Here in the Australian Armed Farces women do not carry the same weight backpacks as the men, they are lighter. They don’t do the same number of physical exercises, they are less. Male soldiers are now permitted to wear female uniforms (dresses) if they prefer to, plus nail polish and ear rings. Troops are now not allowed to be spoken to harshly. Our soldiers are leaving the ADF in large numbers. I cannot believe we have sunk to these low depths in such a short time. Things are so bad the Federal Government in now offering soldiers a bonus of $50,000 if they sign on for an extra three years service. Our ADF has gone completely woke. 😡

[@StPaul76]

@@cassu6 Voi vittu.. Idiootti.. Lähe saatana niitten pillujen kanssa tappelemaan jos hyvältä tuntuu.. :D

[@rikutaskinen5432]

Easy work for russian spies.....😂

[@MilitaryRated]

Having trained with and worked with Finnish NCO's I don't think that's the case. I always found Finns to be critical of most things, especially Russians. Hence you've got the largest, most well drilled reserve in NATO on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

[@jussim.konttinen4981]

​@@MilitaryRatedNo worries. This is as inaccurate as disinformation.

[@TheAns51]

Yes and we know most of russian capabilities. Judging by their effectiveness in Ukraine, I'd say, Finland doesn't have anything than nuclear weapons to worry about.

[@pasimaenpaa2360]

Finland's defence is with one word. Worse and really bad. Ukraine has fight over 2 years. Finland coudn't fight even one week. In real situation. We don't have real armed forces or personnel or Qualified and experienced commanding officers. Or the leading commanding officer. This is fact.

[@BarloGo]

we do have cai-göran and NATO with YLE

[@MilitaryRated]

No matter how many times recently made accounts in social media says stuff along this line, the real proof is what almost all other NATO-members said about Finnish forces after Nordic response this year. It's a well trained, numerous and serious force.

[@pasimaenpaa2360]

@@MilitaryRated real war is whole different world than some exercise. Everybody knows it. Even ordinary citizens in every country. This is cold hard fact.

[@imas84]

Troll or Russian bot.

[@tomiseppanen5444]

Heh, heh. Then you wake up, let out the cat and go pee....😆

[@hurri7720]

The Wikipedia is not too bad either regarding the Finnish Defence Forces. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Defence_Forces

[@PeninnahMarksz]

.cvnp-defensive(israeli)/cuyahogaRiverine\brandywineGorgeCirc#offensiveFinnForces*scandanaviaJointExpeditionaryGroup,

[@PeninnahMarksz]

.petitJury,

[@PeninnahMarksz]

.cleJusticeCenterCellularBlock,sheriffEvidenceRoom

[@DANIELWAGNER-tr1vh]

💙🤍👍💯💖