Finland, in NATO and with the F-35, forms a powerful challenge to Russia - Breaking Defense

For years, there has been little room for argument that Finland is laser focused on how to defend its territory. The Finns have a long history of living with the Russians including a century of being part of the Russian Empire itself (1809-1917). Knowing the Russians as well as they do, they are organized to prepare when necessary to defend their nation against their big neighbor when a crisis erupts. The F-18 procurement was a decision which underwrote enhanced Finnish sovereignty, while making a key tie to NATO interoperability even as Helsinki threaded the needle between Russia and NATO for decades more. That legacy was echoed when Finland announced their decision to buy the F-35 on December 10, 2021; picking the F-35 (and not the offering from close neighbor and militarily neutral partner Sweden) clearly factored in the benefits of working more closely with key strategic allies to deflect Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s efforts to go back to a world in which Finlandization was a word.