Finnish Defence Forces accession to the United States National Guard State Partnership Program – co-operation to take the form of training and exercising co-operation

Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen and Governor of Virginia Glen Youngkin signed a Letter of Intent on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and the Virginia National Guard relating to the accession on 2 May 2024. The Letter of Intent provides for a start of co-operation between the Finnish Defence Forces and the Virginia National Guard.

The co-operation programme will open up new opportunities for the Finnish Defence Forces relating to training exercise activity, education and training, deepening of co-operation of functional areas, and competence development. It will also serve the set objectives of bilateral defence co-operation between Finland and the USA, and thereby contribute to supporting NATO plans.

- Defence co-operation between the USA and Finland is already strong, and today we take it even further. The United States National Guard and Virginia are familiar friends to us, but now our relationship has become officially established through the State Partnership Program. On behalf of the Finnish Defence Forces, I look forward to co-operation with the Virginia Army National Guard, and Virginia Air National Guard, says Chief of Defence, General Janne Jaakkola.

The signing of the agreement marks the start of joint planning between the Finnish Defence Forces and the Virginia National Guard. More extensive training and exercising co-operation is due to begin during 2025. Co-operation will be mainly conducted between the Armies and Air Forces, as well as concerning cyber defence. The main form of co-operation will be training and exercising co-operation.

- Our co-operation is obviously not taking place in a vacuum. It is part of a more extensive entity, part of enhancement of bilateral and multilateral co-operation with the USA, General Jaakkola points out.

National Guard State Partnership Program involves 106 countries

Established in 1993, the National Guard State Partnership Program now involves some 106 partner nations in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. Of Finland’s neighbours, Norway joined the SPP programme in February 2023 with Minnesota as its assigned SPP partner state. For other neighbouring countries in the vicinity of Finland, the SPP partner states include Maryland for Estonia, Michigan for Latvia, and Pennsylvania for Lithuania. 

United States National Guard forms part of the reserve of the U.S. Armed Forces

Subordinated to the Governors of the respective states, the National Guard operates locally for tasks involving rescue, evacuation, guarding, and securing missions. The National Guard forms part of the reserve of the U.S. Armed Forces. The strength of the United States National Guard is c. 340,000 Army Soldiers, and c. 107,000 Air Force Soldiers.

The Virginia National Guard is part of the United States National Guard with its joint headquarters located in Richmond, VA, the Virginia State Capitol. Governor Glen Youngkin is Commander in Chief. The Virginia National Guard is commanded by Major General James W. Ring, the Adjutant General of Virginia.