Finland has selected Company SAAB as combat system provider for Pohjanmaa-class corvettes.

In accordance with Finland’s Ministry of Defence’s proposition, the Government of Finland has selected Swedish Company Saab as the combat system provider and integrator for the Finnish Navy’s four new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes within the Squadron 2020 program.

Drawing Pohjanmaa-class corvette (Picture source Finnish MoD)

Saab has not yet signed a contract or received an order relating to Squadron 2020. Finland’s Ministry of Defence has stated that the contract is scheduled to be signed on 26 September 2019 and that the order value will be 412 million Euro.

“This announcement marks a major milestone in Saab’s relationship with Finland and we look forward to continuing to support the Finnish Navy’s capabilities with our world-leading combat system expertise”, says Anders Carp, Senior Vice President and head of Saab business area Surveillance.

The contract period will be 2019-2027 and the scope will include a range of solutions, including Saab’s 9LV Combat Management System, related sensors and other systems.

All of the Finnish Navy’s current vessels feature at least one system from Saab, with the majority of vessels operating several systems from Saab.

The Pohjanmaa-class corvette is a class of general-purpose surface combatants currently under development for the Finnish Navy as part of the Squadron 2020 (Finnish: Laivue 2020) project.

The overall length of the Pohjanmaa-class corvettes is 105 m, and the beam spans 15 m. The ships displace about 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons) at standard load and 3,300 tonnes (3,200 long tons; 3,600 short tons) when fully loaded. Each ship compliments a crew of 66–120.[9]

The corvettes are going to be armed with Bofors 57 mm guns, ESSM surface-to-air missiles, Gabriel surface-to-surface missiles, Torped 47 anti-submarine torpedoes, as well as sea mines.