The Finnish Border Guards’ acquisition program for a new maritime surveillance aircraft, dubbed MVX, reached an important milestone this week with announcing the winning bid and signing of the order for two new aircraft.
Sierra Nevada Corporation was declared the winner, with their bid to modify and deliver two Bombardier Challenger 650.
For this program, SNC is using a RAPCON-X-configured Bombardier Challenger 650 aircraft tailored to the Finnish Border Guard’s MVX specifications that provides a modernized and dramatically increased capability to the fixed-wing fleet. “SNC is honored to be a trusted partner to the Finnish Border Guard at this critical time in Europe,” said Tim Owings, executive vice president of SNC’s Mission Solutions and Technologies business area. “The rapidly configurable nature of RAPCON-X increases interoperability across Finland’s national security infrastructure – as well as NATO – and sets the Finnish Border Guard up for mission success now and in the future.”
The Finnish Border Guard currently operates two aging Dornier Do 228 in the maritime surveillance role. As the sole dedicated fixed-wing maritime surveillance assets of any Finnish government agency, they play an important role in both military defence, traditional border guard duties, as well as environmental taskings such as oil spill surveillance. In recent years the Dorniers have been plagued by poor availability, and despite a limited MLU done in 2012 it has been clear that they are on their way out. The MVX-program has had a somewhat bumpy ride, having been delayed by the Finnish government once, but the fighting in Ukraine brought it back up on the agenda and saw an increased budget from 60 million Euros to 163 million Euro. The updated plan called for a contract already last year, but despite this delay the delivery of first aircraft in 2026 remain set, with the second to follow in 2027 The added budget allows for a significant upgrade in capability, and the new platform and concept of operations will differ significantly from the aircraft it replaces.
The Dornier is capable of operating from short airstrips and with an unpressurised cabin which allow for dropping of sensor buoys with ease. The closure of many of the small fields envisioned to be used by the Dornier has however led to a change in focus. This means that speed, loitering time, and modern stand-off sensors are prioritised. Still, medical transport remains as one of the missions the aircraft should be able to handle, further adding to the multirole nature of the aircraft.
Notable is that the FBG has described the aircraft as sporting efficient technical surveillance sensors and encrypted data links. The increased need to monitor the long land border between Finland and Russia has played a significant part in the final configuration, as while the Dorniers have been flying occasional overland missions, MVX will be more of a true multirole ISR-platform. “The new surveillance aircraft will significantly increase Finland’s capability in border security and maritime security tasks, which is important in our difficult-to-predict security environment,” Major General Matti Sarasmaa, Chief of Border and Coast Guard Division, was quoted as saying in today’s press release. This is not unheard of, and several maritime patrol aircraft have been known to provide valuable service away from the seas, with for example French Atlantique 2 flying frequent non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR) missions during the anti-ISIL campaign in Syria and Iraq. Despite the close cooperation between the FBG and the FDF, the aircraft will be unarmed and in the civilian register – as OH-MVX and OH-MVY – to lessen bureaucracy in case of international flights, including FRONTEX deployments.
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