Ministry of defense of Finland reported that on the 5th of July,2018 Minister of defense of the state Jussi Niinistö approved the acquiring by Command of the Finnish Defense Forcesof new Israeli anti-ship missiles Gabriel to equip four promising corvettes planned for construction for the Finnish Navy under the Laivue 2020 (“Flotilla 2020”) program, as well as Hamina-type missile boats and coastal missile units. The specific type of Gabriel missile is not called, however, apparently, we are talking about anti-ship missiles Gabriel new versions, developed by the Israeli state corporation Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The number of missiles to be procured is not reported, but the value of the contract should be 162 million euros, with an option of another 193 million euros. Deliveries must be made in 2019-2025. The missiles will receive the official Finnish designation SSM2020 and should replace the Finnish missile boats Rauma and Hamina, as well as Finnish coastal defense units, Saab RBS-15SF anti-ship missiles (Mk 2, later partially upgraded to Mk 3, designation MT085M ) in the Finnish Navy . The new anti-ship missiles will be in service with Finland at least until 2050.
It is indicated that the choice of Finland of the anti-ship missiles Gabriel was made based on the results of the competitive evaluation, which also addressed the anti-ship missiles of Kongsberg NSM, Saab RBS-15 Mk 4, Boeing Harpoon Block II + and MBDA Exocet.
On the bmpd side, we recall that earlier in January 2018, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA)of the USA sent a notice to the US Congress about the forthcoming sale of Finland through the inter-governmental military sales of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of 112 anti-ship missiles of Boeing RGM -84Q-4 Extended Range (ER) Grade B. However, as a result, the Finnish fleet chose the new Israeli SCI IAI Gabriel.
Earlier it was reported that a subsonic anti-ship missile of the new generation Gabriel V (Gabriel Mk 5, also known as Advanced Naval Attack Missile – ANAM) was developed by the IAI since the early 2000s. According to the published information, Azerbaijan became the first foreign customer of Gabriel V within the framework of the 2012 contract package, but up to now there has been no information on the deliveries of this system to Azerbaijan.
According to other sources, at present the new supersonic anti-ship missile of IAI development, sometimes called Gabriel X, has started to be used by the Israeli Navy. It is unclear which type of new Gabriel missile will be delivered by Finland.
The program of construction of four promising Laivue 2020 corvettes (“Flotilla 2020”) with a total value of more than 1.2 billion euros (apparently without taking into account the cost of purchased weapons) is the main promising program of the Finnish Navy designed to create the core of the Finnish fleet for the long term. As part of the Finnish Navy, four new corvettes must replace four Rauma missile boats, two Hämeenmaa minelayers, and withdrawn from the Finnish fleet at the end of 2013 minelayer and the flagship of the Pohjanmaa fleet. In 2017, the Finnish Ministry of Defense selected the shipyard Rauma Marine Constructions in Rauma for the design and construction of the corvettes for this program. The conclusion of the contract for the construction of ships with this enterprise is expected in 2018, with the beginning of construction of the head corvette in 2019. The head ship should be handed over for testing in 2022, with the surrender of all four corvettes by 2027 and the achievement of their combat readiness in 2028.
According to the latest published data, the corvettes of the Laivue 2020 program should be quite large ships with a total displacement of about 3000 tons, a length of 105 meters, a width of 15 meters and a draft of 5 meters. A crew of 66 to 120 people. The antiaircraft armament of the ships, apparently, will make up the Raytheon ESSM SAM.
