The Commander of the Defence Forces, General Janne Jaakkola, visited Israel from 3 to 6 August 2026. The visit focused on discussions on the evolution of the security environment in the area as well as developing multilayered air defence in a challenging operating environment.
The Defence Forces keeps constantly following the international security environment evolution. During the visit, the topics discussed included the security situation in the area as well as solutions of modern warfare and air defence in the light of experiences from recent conflicts.
– The security situation in Lebanon is unstable. It was important to get an opportunity to form a picture of the situation and discuss the evolution especially as concerns Lebanon. Finns have continued their work in the UNIFIL operation with professional competence and determination despite challenging circumstances, General Jaakkola says.
Multilayered air defence builds upon several mutually supporting systems. The topics covered during the visit involved the entirety made up of ground-based air defence and missile defence, including operating experiences, in particular with regard to the David’s Sling air defence system. The introduction and integration of David’s Sling into Finland’s multilayered ground-based air defence and NATO compatible defence architecture is advancing as planned.
– We are moving towards a capability using which Finland will no longer rely on single, point-by-point solutions, but, instead, build a multilayered, networked and scaled air defence system. The aim is to be able to respond to both rapid and wide-scale air and missile threats, General Jaakkola explains.
The visit also included a meeting at the Finnish Embassy in Tel Aviv.
