Speeches
Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen's keynote speech at the NATO Technology event in Washington
It is my honor to represent Finland in the context of NATOs 75th year. Let me start by saying a couple of words about Finland’s defence. We have a 1300 kilometer borderline with Russia. Russia has been a difficult neighbor for centuries.
That is why Finnish people have always taken its own defence seriously, but now as a member of NATO, we are taking seriously also the security of other allies. We have a really strong will to defend our country. Over 80% of Finns are willing to defend our country and also other allies.
We have 900,000 military trained citizens in total reserve. Our wartime strength is now 280 000 soldiers. We are investing heavily in our defence, this year 2,3% per gdp. We have high capabilities in our army. We are for excample purchasing 64 F35 fighter jets.
At the basis of our defence is our quite unique comprehensive security model which brings us strong resilience and ways to counter Russia’s hybrid influence.
As a high tech country, Finland sees that collaboration in RDI and coordinated investment into defense technological and industry benefit the Allies and NATO. Thus Finland embraces collaboration between the Allies. Finland has established industry and technology base in wireless networks, quantum, and AI, that can benefit society, business, and defense between Allied nations.
During the last years the global security environment and balance has changed due to several overlapping developments: the strategic competition between major powers has escalated. NATO adversaries have become more aggressive in challenging the international order. Russia has even started a war of aggression in Europe. At the same time, we are on the brink of technological and commercial breakthrough in several emerging technologies. These trends are expected to have a major impact in society at large, future conflicts, and capabilities necessary to wage war effectively.
The war in Ukraine has already highlighted the impact of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems in various aspects of armed conflict. The use cases for New Space capabilities such as imaging, and telecom based on micro satellite has also been made clear. Further use cases for quantum technologies in positioning, navigation, and timing in contested areas can be also found. The coming breakthrough is integrating these new additions to the mainstream of command and control.
The maturation of quantum information science and computing side by side with AI also challenges our existing cyber security and defense. This demands updating our communication networks and cyber defense the coming quantum age.
However, while emerging technologies are great force multipliers, we cannot forget that armaments in sufficient quality and quantity are a vital part of defense. Finland believes that the Allies need to invest in joint capabilities, technology, and industrial foundations, and stand resolutely by Ukraine to contain the aggression of NATO adversaries.
Besides the on-going conflict, the World needs sustainable technology. The Western world continues to depend on adversarial states and unsustainable value chains for raw materials, energy, and various components. This demands innovation in novel energy and propulsion technologies, new materials and manufacturing technologies. The goal needs to be sustainable strategic autonomy for the Allied nations.
Emerging and disruptive technologies are already included in the heart of NATO, in the Strategic Concept and Capstone Concept. Technology is also present in defense planning. NATO’s brand new defense innovation initiatives DIANA and NIF have been taken with great interest in Finland. We are eager to contribute to the joint efforts of Alliance and the technological edge of NATO and vitality of our innovation ecosystems.
Finland’s innovation ecosystem brings to NATO a great deal of expertise on dual-use technologies and innovation potential for future armaments. Finland's present contribution to DIANA includes an innovation accelerator and two test centers focusing on communication, quantum technologies and space.
Within this policy framework, the onus is on the Allied nations to recognize their role in contributing to the joint strength of NATOs technology and industrial base. The Allies need to work past the inertia of the tradition and find common ground to build our resilience, adaptability, and capability, to meet the coming disruptions.
It does everyone well to remember that the foundations for our capabilities are laid by patient cumulative investments during the peacetime. We Allies fare better if we lean into the challenges and rather lead the way, than settle for reacting. To end with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt “The work must be done; we cannot escape our responsibility; and if we are worth our salt, we shall be glad of the chance to do the work – glad of the chance to show ourselves equal to one of the great tasks set modern civilization!”