Finland to Acquire Leopard 2A6 Main Battle Tank From Netherland

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.

The used Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks that will now be acquired were modernized between 2000 and 2006 and their performance is considerably better than the performance of the main battle tanks now in use by the Finnish Army. The new main battle tanks have greater fire-power, better developed ballistic protection and a system for the leader to independently act in the dark as well as an inside splinter protection. 

The main battle tank acquisition also includes spare parts for ten years, inside simulators, maintenance simulators, special tools, testing equipment and personnel training as well as ammunition.