Finnish, Swedish navies hold anti-submarine warfare drills

Last week, the Finnish and Swedish navies conducted a joint anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Gulf of Finland.

The Finnish Navy Hamina-class fast-attack craft Hamina and Tornio, multi-purpose vessel Louhi and a patrol boat of the Border Guard took part in the exercise.

Sweden’s Gotland-class submarine HSWMS Uppland also participated in the drill.

The navies trained in anti-submarine warfare in the framework of a Cross Border Training exercise as part of the FISE cooperation carried out between Sweden and Finland.

The exercise serves the objective of developing international interoperability, anti-submarine warfare capability training and contributes to the know-how of the personnel.

“The exercise is a part of the close cooperation conducted by Finland with Sweden. Participating in international training activities is important, because it demonstrates, maintains and develops our national defence,” Commander Toni Joutsia said.

According to the Government Defence Report (2021), international exercises that cannot be organized or it is not practical to organize nationally are especially important for Finland, as are exercises that include capabilities that Finland does not possess.

“In addition to anti-submarine warfare, provision of host nation support will also be rehearsed…HSWMS Uppland attached itself to the side of multi-purpose vessel Louhi for maintenance and supplies in Hanko…, Jousia continued.

The Hamina-class fast-attack craft taking part in the exercise have undergone an extensive overhaul which has improved in particular the vessels’ underwater warfare capabilities, i.a. with the integration of torpedoes and Variable Depth Sonar VDS.

The air defence and surface warfare capabilities have also been updated.