Finland Domestic Arms Production
Finnish-built L-70 Vinka elementary trainer produced by Valmet
Courtesy General Headquarters, Finnish Defense Forces
Finland's own production capacity had gradually
expanded
beginning in the 1960s. Among the arms manufactured
domestically
were the M-60 122mm field gun, the M61/37 105mm howitzer,
the
M-62 assault rifle (a highly regarded redesigned version
of the
Soviet AK-47), and the M-62 light machine gun, the basic
infantry
weapons of the Finnish army. Domestic shipyards turned out
all of
the vessels needed by the navy, although much of their
advanced
electronic equipment and weaponry was imported. Earlier, a
number
of ships had been purchased from the Soviet Union and from
Britain and had been modified in Finnish yards for
minelaying and
other special requirements. The only aircraft entirely of
Finnish
manufacture was the Valmet L-70 Vinka basic trainer.
Another
Valmet design, the Redigo, had been marketed abroad as a
basic
trainer without success. Analysts expected that the
Finnish air
force would acquire it as a light transport in the early
1990s.
The British Hawk advanced jet trainer and later
consignments of
the Draken were assembled at the Valmet plant.
An all-terrain truck, the KB-45 manufactured by
Sisu-Auto
(SISU), was used by the Finnish army as a gun tractor and
personnel carrier and by Swedish and Finnish peacekeeping
forces
in the Middle East. SISU also manufactured the SA-150 Masi
allterrain truck and the NA-140 Nasu adverse terrain vehicle.
The
SISU A-180 Pasi, a newly designed six-wheeled amphibious
armored
personnel carrier, had been introduced into the army, and
several
hundred were on order as of 1988.
By 1988 the Finnish arms industry consisted of about
twenty
firms, most of them small subsidiaries of conglomerates
primarily
oriented toward civilian markets. The Ministry of Defense
had its
own plants for the manufacture of munitions and for the
modernization of heavy equipment such as the T-55 tank. In
addition to SISU and Valmet, one of the larger private
manufacturers was Tampella, which produced field
artillery,
mortars, turret guns, and grenade launchers. Most of the
missile
boats were constructed by the Hollming shipyards in Rauma
and at
Wartsila's yards in Helsinki, although their weapons
systems were
acquired abroad.
Finnish arms exports were a minor item in the balance
of
trade, amounting to only Fmk60 million in 1986. Nearly
half of
these exports were to NATO countries, most of the
remainder going
to neutral developed countries such as Sweden. About half
of the
export total consisted of gunpowder. Ammunition, artillery
shells, and assault rifles composed most of the remainder.
Data as of December 1988
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