Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s minister of defence, stated that his nation would combine its coastal anti-ship missile system with Finland in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti. There are 45 kilometres of sea between the two countries at the Gulf of Finland’s narrowest point and 120 kilometres at its widest. According to Pevkur, integrating missile defence systems will make it possible to bar Russian warships from entering the Gulf of Finland. Earlier this week in Helsinki, the defence ministers of Estonia and Finland met.
“Integrating our coastal defences is necessary. Estonian and Finnish missiles have a flight range that exceeds the width of the Gulf of Finland. This implies that we can connect our missile defences and exchange our data, “Pevkur said in an interview while on a work trip to Finland.
This fall, Estonia will purchase 290-kilometre-range Israeli Blue Spear land-to-sea missiles. The MTO 85M missiles from Finland have a more than 100 kilometres range.
“The Baltic Sea will be NATO’s internal sea when Finland and Sweden have joined NATO. Compared with what it is today, the situation is changing,” he said.
In addition, the minister touched on airspace security. NATO has decided that the Allies will protect the whole Baltic Sea region.
“For me, this is one airspace. Everyone must understand that Norway, Finland, the Baltics and other countries form NATO’s eastern flank. We are not only protecting Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or other eastern NATO countries. When we talk about NATO, the most important thing is Article 5: one for all and all for one,” he said and added;
“Finnish airspace cannot be protected if Estonian airspace is not protected simultaneously, and vice versa. Fighter jets cross the 80-kilometre-wide Gulf of Finland in minutes.”
