Finland orders 64 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets

[December 10, 2021]  By Mike Stone and Essi Lehto

WASHINGTON/HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland has chosen U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighters in a tender to replace ageing F/A-18 combat jets, and plans to order 64 planes with weapons systems, the government said on Friday.

Lockheed Martin competed for the deal with Sweden's Saab, U.S. rival Boeing, France's Dassault and Britain's BAE Systems.

The procurement is worth an estimated 8.378 billion euros ($9.44 billion), the government said.

"When comparing military performance, the F-35 best met our needs," Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen told a news conference.

Reuters reported earlier on Friday that Lockheed Martin was set to win the contract.

($1 = 0.8871 euros)

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington and Essi Lehto in Helsinki; editing by Tim Hepher)
 

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.