The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) and domestic arms industry are learning important lessons from quickly evolving defence technologies used in the war in Ukraine.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries began learning what type of warfare Russia was waging, and how Ukraine has managed to respond.
In particular, the use of drones — or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) — in combat has shown their potential in both offensive and defensive strategies. The nearly three-year-long deadly conflict has seen heavy use of high tech drones, to an extent which has never been seen before.
According to the Finnish Defence and Aerospace Industries interest group (Pia), there are more than ten domestic defence companies that cooperate directly with their Ukrainian counterparts.
One Finnish company working with Ukraine is called Insta, a high tech firm and strategic partner of the FDF.
On Wednesday, Insta was showcasing its latest warfare drone at SecD-Day, a two-day domestic security and defence convention in Helsinki this week.
The firm's new UAV, the Insta Steel Eagle ER, is an update to an earlier model — with the ER referring to its "'extended range" capabilities.
The drone's flying tech was developed by a Ukrainian partner. It can be operated remotely by a VR goggle-wearing pilot that gets a first-person perspective from the device's onboard camera.
Drone tech race
Insta's website describes the system as a combination of an "explosive charge and a drone".
The explosive part of the device was developed in Finland.
"The drone allows for transporting the explosive charge by air into an ideal position above the desired target, where it can then be detonated," the firm's website explained.
When detonated from the height of a few dozen metres, a blast of steel and tungsten pellets spray out towards the ground with a force that can penetrate the roof of a standard, lightly armoured vehicle, according to the company.
The explosive part of the device was initially designed for anti-infantry on the ground.
But when three of the devices are detonated simultaneously from the air, they would be able kill or disable troops covering an area roughly the size of a football pitch, according to Insta.
Ukrainian troops have found inventive ways of using drones on the warfield and for reconnaissance.
For example, the devices have helped Ukraine monitor the Black Sea and also used to carry out surprise strikes far into Russian territory.
At the beginning of the war, Ukraine used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones with major success. However, those battlefield victories began to diminish after Russia developed its air defence systems and learned how to take them down.
Russia is also known for its use of drones in the war, initially ones made in Iran. But nearly three years on in the conflict, Russia has also developed its own powerful combat UAVs. It has struck Ukraine with swarms of the devices.
According to Insta's sales and marketing chief Tuure Lehtoranta, those rapid advancements mean that it is important to develop drone tech domestically — and be able to modify it quickly.
"Some solutions are becoming outdated and need to be changed quickly. This is a challenge for weapons approval in Western countries, as those processes are slow," Lehtoranta said.
