The Finnish Ministry of Defence (MoD) will acquire second-hand Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks (MBTs) from the Netherlands, Finland Minister of Defence Haglund and Dutch Minister of Defence Hennis-Plasschaert signed an agreement on the acquisition of 100 used Leopard 2A6 Main Battle Tanks for the Finnish Defence Forces The main battle tanks will be purchased from the Netherlands and they will be delivered to Finland over the period of 2015-2019. The value of the purchase is EUR 199.9 million. The acquisition is expected to secure the Army’s strike capability well into the 2030’s.

This acquisition does not require any extra financing but is included in the budget planned for the defence administration. Other options for this acquisition would have been to upgrade the life cycle for the Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks that the Finnish Defence Forces use today or to buy new main battle tanks. The cost for a life cycle upgrade of the Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Leopard 2A6 level would have been approx. 5 million Euro per tank and for acquiring new Leopard main battle tanks approx. 10 million Euro per tank.