Finland joins NATO's Air-to-ground PGM cooperation deal

Finland has joined NATO's multinational cooperation arrangement on the Air-to-ground Precision Guided Munition (PGM) under a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed by Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö on Thursday in Brussels, said a government press release.

The signing of the original MoU in 2016 brought together nine NATO Allies: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

The arrangement was not previously open to NATO partner countries. United Kingdom and Hungary will be joining the arrangement at the same time with Finland.

The objective of the MoU on the Air-to-ground PGM is to increase their availability by coordinating all aspects of procurement and loaning possibilities and the exchange of information to ensure that the munitions stored in different countries are as compatible and mutually interchangeable as possible.

Based on the MoU, a working group was set up with the objective to provide information on the Air-to-ground Precision Guided Munition and its development, to investigate and implement joint procurement possibilities and to improve its availability and military security of supply.

The Finnish Defence Forces' Logistics Command will appoint Finland's representative to the working group. In addition to possibly lower costs per unit and joint procurement, participation will support the capabilities development of the Finnish Defence Forces also because of access to further information on the material.

All cooperation regarding joint procurement and other projects will be agreed on separately and therefore joining the arrangement does not bring direct costs. The MoU is a technical document by nature and therefore it was signed by Finland's Ministry of Defence.