Chief of Defence Kaskeala calls for boost in military spending

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Finland’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, wants the next government to implement a significant boost in defence spending.
      Speaking at the opening of the latest National Defence Course on Monday, Kaskeala said that such a move would prevent a "dip in the credibility of defence capability".
     
Kaskeala pointed out that defence spending has fallen back from the EUR 200 million level that Parliament approved when it passed the government’s defence policy report in 2004.
      With costs rising, the Defence Forces have planned cutbacks of about half a billion euros, and have significantly reduced training and exercises by conscripts.
      Admiral Kaskeala also noted that a recent opinion survey indicated "exceptionally strong" support among the people for more funding for the Defence Forces.
     
Kaskeala said that an increase in the level of spending during the next government term would help in the early part of the next decade, but that later there will be a period of ten years in which a significant part of the main equipment of the Defence Forces will become obsolete.
      One solution that he sees to this problem is "a completely new type of external cooperation".
      International cooperation could be helpful in acquisitions of materiel, training, and exercises, as well as the development of the effectiveness of crisis management.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minister Kääriäinen: Finland must spend more on defence, or join NATO (2.11.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat