Potential suppliers were informed of the launching of the HX Fighter Program

The Ministry of Defence sent a letter on 16.12.2015 to Great Britain, France, Sweden and the United States where it informed that the fighter project was launched in the Defence Forces. The goal of the project is to replace the Hornet fleet, which will be decommissioned as of 2025, with multi-role fighters. The project has been named as HX Fighter Program.

While the Ministry of Defence coordinates the HX Fighter Program it is also responsible for providing guidelines based on security policy and materiel policy considerations and cooperating with other actors in the central government. The project is under the command of the Commander of the Air Force. Project execution and implementation is the responsibility of the Air Force Command within the guidelines provided by Defence Command Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command will prepare requests for information and calls for tenders in line with guidance provided by the Air Force Command.

The request for information concerning the HX Fighter Program will be sent at the latest in March 2016 to the following states (potential fighters are given in the brackets):

• Great Britain, for information NETMA and BAE Systems (Eurofighter)

• France, for information Dassault (Rafale)

• Sweden, for information Saab (JAS-39)

• the United States, for information Boeing and Lockheed Martin (F-35, F-18, F-16, F-15)

Replies to the requests for information are to be submitted to Finland by the end of October 2016.

A call for tender will be sent in spring 2018 and the buying decision is scheduled to take place in 2021.

For more information, please contact the project coordinator Lauri Puranen at the Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 9 295 140403.

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