Govt okays €8.5m ammunition sales to Estonia

The government on Thursday approved a proposal of the defence minister for selling a batch of 155mm field artillery ammunition to Estonia.

The overall value of the ammunition without value-added tax is about EUR 8.5 million, said an official press release.

This business transaction will be conducted between the authorities based on Estonia’s request.

Due to financing and time-of-delivery reasons of the buyer, the ammunition will be delivered from the Defence Forces’ stock. The sales will not impair Finland’s ammunition readiness.

A sales agreement between the two countries will be signed in the near future. At Estonia’s request, details of the agreement, such as the quantity and quality of the ammunition, will not be made public.

The transaction is part of cooperation carried out in connection with field artillery. This summer Estonia made public the procurement of second-hand K9 “Thunder” armoured howitzers from South Korea. Finland decided on a similar procurement in the spring of 2017.

The original manufacturer of the ammunition is, for the most part, Nammo Lapua Oy, which is a key supplier of artillery ammunition to the Finnish Defence Forces.

The sales agreement enables rotation of the Defence Forces’ military stock and therefore extends the life cycle of its stored ammunition.