Finnish Defence Forces - Total Defence

Total Defence

The Finnish military doctrine is based on the concept of total defence. The term total means that all sectors of the government and economy are involved in the defence planning. In principle, each ministry has the responsibility for planning its operations during a crisis. There are no special emergency authorities, such as the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Instead, each authority regularly trains for crises and has been allocated a combination of normal and emergency powers it needs to keep functioning in any conceivable situation. In a war, all resources of the society may be diverted to serve the national survival. The legal basis for such measures is found in the Readiness Act and in the State of Defence Act, which would come into force through a parliamentary decision in a case of a crisis.

The main objective of the doctrine is to establish and maintain a military force capable of deterring any potential aggressor from using Finnish territory or applying military pressure against Finland. To accomplish this, the defence is organised on the doctrine of territorial defence. The stated main principles of the territorial defence are

• military non-alliance,
• general conscription,
• territorial defence,
• training of conscripts for wartime units,
• dispersed mobilisation, and
• flexible readiness responding to military threats of various degree.

The defence planning is organised to counteract three threat situations:

• A regional crisis that may have effects on Finland.
• Political, economic and military pressure, which may include a threat of using military force and its restricted use.
• Use of military force in the form of a strategic strike or an attack beginning with a strategic strike aimed at seizing territory.

In all cases, the national objective is to keep the vital areas, especially the capital area in Finnish possession. In other areas, the size of the country is used to delay and wear down the invader, until the enemy may be defeated in an area of Finnish choosing. The Army carries most of the responsibility for this task. The war-time army is combined of

• two mechanized battle groups
• three readiness brigades
• two jaeger brigades
• two motorized battle groups
• six infantry brigades (territorial troops)
• special jaeger battalion
• helicopter battalion
• specialized units under general staff
• local defence units

The army units are mostly composed of reservists, the career soldiers manning the command and specialty positions.

The role of the Navy is to repel all attacks carried out against Finnish coasts and to safeguard the territorial integrity during peace time and the "gray" phase of the conflict. The maritime defence relies on combined use of coastal artillery, missile systems and naval mines to wear down the attacker. The Air Force is used to deny the invader the air superiority and to protect most important troops and objects of national importance in conjunction with the ground-based air defence. As the readiness of the Air Force and the Navy is high even during the peace-time, the career personnel have a much more visible role in the war-time duties of these defence branches.

The Border Guard has the responsibility for border security in all situations. During a war, it will contribute to the national defence partially integrated into the army, its total mobilized strength being some 11,600 troops. One of the projected uses for the Border Guard is guerrilla warfare in areas temporarily occupied by enemy.