, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, the chief of the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF), said at the opening of the national defence course in Helsinki on Monday that it was impossible from the military's point of view to commit to a total ban on cluster weapons.
The defence chief added a total ban on cluster weapons would mean the loss of a significant part of the FDF's firepower, the very capability meant to replace anti-personnel land mines, scheduled to be phased out by 2016.
Adm Kaskeala underlined that Finland had not and would not buy obsolete or ethically dubious weapons.
“It is fortunate that we can say today that we, unlike the Netherlands, Norway or Denmark, did not procure munitions that have proved ethically dubious. We can focus our weapons purchases on technically reliable and modern cargo projectiles,” Adm Kaskeala said.
According to the defence chief, the reliability of the type of cargo projectiles already acquired for the Finnish artillery is more than 99.8 per cent, meaning fewer unexploded ordnance than when using conventional rounds would be left on the ground.
Adm Kaskeala added all the cargo projectiles planned for procurement were equipped with self-destruct or deactivation mechanisms.
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