LONDON Now is the best possible time to be an arms dealer. It is guaranteed by global gloom.
– Due to the very unfortunate world situation, the demand is probably stronger than ever before, says the sales and customer relations director of the defense business of the technology company Insta Tuure Lehtoranta.
Insta is one of nearly 1,600 companies marketing their firepower at Europe’s largest gun fair in London. Twenty Finnish companies are also there.
The arms trade has grown rapidly since Russia invaded Ukraine. Finland’s defense equipment exports increased by 70 percent to 125 million last year. Britain’s defense exports doubled to around ten billion euros last year, writes The Guardian magazine based on research by the Campaign Against Arm Trade, an organization that opposes the arms trade.
Insta introduced the new Steel Eagle quadcopter, or drone, which flies to its target and drops small steel or tungsten balls from the air into an area of 2,000 square meters.
The president belongs to the same product family Sauli Niinistön previously named jump buddy, a weapon in which steel charges are fired from a canister that pops up from the ground. This weapon manufactured by Insta has been designed for Finland to replace mines.
Weapons that cause serious destruction have a way out because of the world’s uncertain security situation.
According to Lehtoranta, the growth of the arms trade is not admirable because of the crises in the world. However, in his opinion, it is good that the doors to the export market have opened for Finnish defense companies.
– Rather, I wish that the situation in the world had not turned out like this, Lehtoranta thinks.
The DSIE gun fair, which ends today, has been bustling with people for the past four days at London’s Docklands exhibition centre. Soldiers in their uniforms, businessmen and women walked the corridors. Among the 36 presenting countries were countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose human rights situation is weak.
The huge exhibition hall featured everything from armored vehicles to missiles, helicopters and artificial intelligence products.
Saab’s UK manager Dean Rosenfield praised the company for having developed, among other things, an underwater vehicle that can monitor the seabed from shocks such as the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
– The demand is increasing not only because of the situation in Ukraine, but also because many countries are increasing their defense budgets. Ordinary people are also interested because they see the news every night on TV. They understand more clearly now, says Rosenfield.
The Finnish company Frestems presented a multi-functional ambulance stretcher suitable for military use.
At the stand of FYC, which manufactures bulletproof vests and composite helmets, an even lighter new combat helmet for the ground forces was on display. Pirkkala now has forty employees making helmets, and production is expanding.
FYC Sales Manager Asko Kylkilahti says that demand has been at a record high since the crisis in Ukraine broke out.
– There has never been anything like it in my career. Unique and unexpected to some extent, Kylkilahti, who has been in the industry for 30 years, describes the trend.
The need for a “massive amount” of equipment
Many visitors to the fair climbed into Patria’s two armored vehicles. A Japanese delegation also sat inside them.
A couple of weeks ago, Patria signed an agreement with Japan that Japan will start manufacturing Patria’s armored wheeled vehicle under license for its ground forces. Japan plans to double its defense budget by 2027, especially because of the threat from China and North Korea.
– Many will now come to see what kind of vehicle Japan chose, says the head of Patria’s Global division Jukka Holkeri.
Holkeri describes the situation in Ukraine as a massive ground war that requires a massive amount of equipment. This need is now reflected in the defense budgets of Western countries.
– Yes, we are strongly on the path to growth. In particular, international sales are growing and we see them growing at a fairly steep curve for many years to come, he estimates.
Finland’s NATO membership benefits Finnish arms manufacturers
According to SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Institute, European NATO countries have increased arms imports by 65 percent between 2018 and 2022 due to the threat from Russia. Finland sells especially to European countries.
According to Patrian Holker, Western countries have not invested as much in defense in the last 10-20 years as they did during the Cold War. With the war in Ukraine, their stocks have dwindled.
– Now that a lot of material from Western countries’ warehouses has been handed over to Ukraine, it must be replaced. And when Russia is unlikely to become a stable state in the near future, Western countries will have to prepare for the Russian threat, various threats.
Holkeri sees that Western countries will not only replace the equipment sent to Ukraine, but will increase it even more.
Finland’s NATO membership benefits Finnish arms exports. Instan’s Tuure Lehtoranta describes the membership as revolutionary. So far, the company has only sold its products to the Finnish Defense Forces in the domestic market.
– NATO countries seem to rather buy from other NATO countries. Now that we are a full member of NATO, we have been able to join this so-called inner circle, he describes.
Patria has sold and serviced equipment in NATO countries before.
– After Finland became a member half a year ago, many customers of NATO countries have said that it is now easier to do business with you, says Patria’s Jukka Holkeri.
According to Holker, this can be seen especially in the sharing of classified documents within the alliance.
– Part of the ease is mental. It is easier to buy from friends within the alliance than from outside, even though Finland has been a partner country and a reliable supplier in the past, says Holkeri.
Insta’s defense adviser Sakari WallinmaaAccording to n, companies are supported by the fact that they can join NATO’s product base and the Defense Forces give them a reliability certificate. NATO has a register of producers and products. From it, NATO countries can easily find weapons with product codes. Finnish companies now have the opportunity to get on this list.
FYC’s Asko Kylkilahti points out that access to NATO stores requires a long process.
– Bureaucracy in the initial stages employs quite a lot. There will be no quick wins, but it will be beneficial in the long run.
On some days, there were a group of anti-gun demonstrators in front of the fair. Their message was hampered by new police powers to arrest and move protesters who, for example, lock themselves to poles or throw themselves onto the road to stop traffic.