The Finnish Navy mine-hunting vessel FNS Vahterpää is pictured participating in historical ordnance disposal operations (HODOPS) while working with NATO's SNMCMG1 in April 2024. (Finnish Navy)
The Finnish Navy (FN) is set to step up its participation with NATO's standing naval forces (SNFs) in 2025. Demonstrating its increasing integration now that it is a NATO member state, the navy will deploy two ships, one each into alliance task groups responsible for the Baltic and wider North Atlantic region.
The two ships will be a surface combatant and a mine-countermeasures vessel (MCMV), Commodore Janne Huusko – the FN's chief of staff – told Janes on 20 November, onboard the Royal Norwegian Navy auxiliary ship HNoMS Maud , the current flagship for Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), during a media day for the FN-led ‘Freezing Winds 2024' exercise.
As ‘Freezing Winds' got under way, Cdre Huusko explained to a media briefing onboard Maud , “It is planned for next year that we will join SNMG1 and SNMCMG1 [Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 1]. Two ships are planned to take part in these task groups.”
The deployments would see the surface combatant join SNMG1, with the MCMV joining SNMCMG1. This will be the first time the FN has deployed a ship into SNMG1.
Janes understands the deployments are in the planning phase, prior to final political decisions and guidance being taken before the end of 2024. Further details of the deployments will be confirmed early in 2025.
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