BALTIC-2-BLACK: UPDATE – Finland Approved for NATO Membership

UPDATE: Finland becomes newest member of NATO

Finland: Turkey’s parliament ratified Finland’s application to join NATO Thursday (March 30), clearing the way for a country with a longstanding policy of military neutrality — and an 830 mile (1,300-kilometer) border with Russia — to join the Western defense bloc.

NATO rules require all 30 member nations (soon to be 31 with Finland’s entry) to approve any new countries joining. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland.  Hungary voted its approval earlier this week, March 27.

“All 30 NATO Allies have now ratified the accession protocol. And I have just spoken with President Sauli Niinistö to congratulate him on this historic occasion,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “Finland will formally join our Alliance in the coming days. Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger.”

A member of the Finnish Navy High Readiness Unit, on patrol with U.S. Marines, during bilateral training on Russaro Island, Finland on August 11, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Yvonna Guyette)

NATO rules require all 30 member nations (soon to be 31 with Finland’s entry) to approve any new countries joining. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland. Hungary voted its approval earlier this week. However, neighboring Sweden, which applied for NATO membership with Finland in May 2022,  “remains on the outside looking in,” as Breaking Defense put it. However, there is some belief among European sources that Sweden may still get into NATO this year, depending on the outcome of Turkey’s elections in May.

Both Turkey and Hungary are holding out on giving it the green light to Sweden despite expressing support for NATO’s expansion,” the Associated Press reported. Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups it deems to be terrorist organizations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.

More recently, Turkey was angered by a series of demonstrations in Sweden, including a protest by an anti-Islam activist who burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy.

Hungary’s government contends some Swedish politicians have made derisive statements about the condition of Hungary’s democracy and played an active role in ensuring that billions in European Union funds were frozen over alleged rule-of-law and democracy violations.

“All Allies made a historic decision last year to invite Finland and Sweden to join our Alliance,” Stoltenberg said, adding “Since then, we have seen the fastest ratification process in NATO’s modern history. All Allies agree that a rapid conclusion of the ratification process for Sweden will be in everyone’s interest. I look forward to also welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible.”

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WHY BALTIC-TO-BLACK? Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s brutal continuation of that unprovoked war has rattled it neighbors in both the Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions, prompting several to increase their defense budgets, reinstate a military draft, and send military supplies including air defense artillery and armored vehicles to Ukraine. In the case of Finland and Sweden, two countries with long histories of neutrality in Europe’s hot and cold conflicts, both are seeking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Western mutual defense bloc. Finland’s was approved March 30.

Here are other recent developments.

AID/ASSISTANCE

Germany, a NATO member, has committed to about 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) to buy weapons and equipment for Ukraine. German will be releasing a total of about 12 billion euros ($13 billion) related to the Ukraine conflict over the next decade, according to the Aljazeera news site.

Since the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has provided more than $32.5 billion of security assistance in the form of military hardware and ammunition.

But the United States, its partners and allies also have provided substantial training to prepare Ukrainians to make good use of the equipment that’s been supplied, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters March 30.

“Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022, U.S. European Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa and Security Assistance Group Ukraine have trained more than 7,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Ryder said. “Just this week, 65 Ukrainian air defenders completed Patriot training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and have now arrived back in Europe.”

Back in December, the Pentagon announced that the U.S. will also provide combined arms training to Ukrainian soldiers using U.S. ranges in Germany. That training has been underway, and some of it is now coming to a close.

“At the close of this month, more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers in two brigades — one equipped with M2 Bradleys and one equipped with Strykers — will have completed combined arms training and have returned to Ukraine,” Ryder said.

WEAPONRY

Tanks and More Tanks

Germany and Britain have delivered the first consignment of battle tanks to Ukraine – providing much-needed ground support as Russian forces intensify attacks in the east of the country, according to Aljazeera. The Leopard and Challenger tanks were promised to Kyiv earlier this year and arrived on March 27 in time for an expected spring offensive by Ukraine’s forces.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told journalists that Berlin provided “very modern” Leopard battle tanks to Kyiv with the defense ministry later saying 18 were delivered.

In London, Britain’s government said Ukrainian crews – who have been training to use the Challenger 2 – are now ready to deploy to the front line. The training began shortly after London announced in January it would send 14 of the tanks to Ukraine. The crews learned how to command, drive and “effectively identify and engage targets” the defense ministry said in  statement.

Meanwhile, Spain — another NATO member — said it will send six German-made 2A4 Leopard tanks to Ukraine in early April.

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No to F-16s, But Yes on MiG-29s

Top U.S. defense officials told Congress this week that the U.S. would not be providing aircraft—neither manned nor unmanned—to Ukraine anytime soon.

Kyiv has repeatedly asked for F-16 fighters and MQ-9 drones, the Biden administration has declined to do so, arguing the systems would be of limited use to Ukraine in the current phase of its fight against Russia’s invasion, according to Air & Space Forces magazine. Instead, U.S. officials say Ukraine has more pressing needs such as air defense, armor and artillery. They also contend that Russia’s own capable air defense systems would limit the utility and employment of manned aircraft.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off on a mission at dawn from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Feb. 11, 2014. ( U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sergeant Gary J. Rihn)

“That air domain is a very hostile airspace because of the capability that the Russians have for air defense,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 28.

But Slovakia is sending Soviet Era fighter aircraft to Ukraine, according to Defense News. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced his country will deliver 13 out-of-commission Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine as part of Bratislava’s support to the nation’s struggle against the Russian invasion. “Promises must be kept,” Heger said in a March 17 tweet,, adding that Slovakia’s military aid was designed to help Ukraine defend itself and “entire Europe against Russia.”

The latest move comes one day after Polish President Andrzej Duda declared his country will supply the first four MiG-29 jets to Ukraine soon  with more aircraft to be delivered in the future, Defense News reported.

MiG-29 fighter jet. (Photo by Artem Katranzhi from Bakashikha, Russia via wikipedia)

The Polish Air Force has between 11 and 19 MiG-29s in its fleet, according to the president. Duda said Poland’s military will replace the Soviet-made fighters with FA-50 aircraft the country’s Ministry of National Defense ordered from South Korea last September.

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DIPLOMACY

Ukraine Black Sea Grain Deal Renewed, For Now

A deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain was renewed March 18, for at least 60 days, Reuters reported — although the extension is only half the intended period — after Russia warned any further extension beyond mid-May would depend on the removal of some Western sanctions.

The pact was brokered with Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey in July and renewed for a further 120 days in November. The aim was to combat a global food crisis that was fueled in part by Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine and Black Sea blockade.

(Black Sea region map Norman Einstein via wikipedia)

The deal, which will allow for the continued exportation of crucial grain supplies from Ukraine, had been due to expire on Saturday evening. The shipments from Ukraine are an essential part of the food supply for countries stretching from North Africa to the Middle East to South Asia, CBS reported. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, and normally supplies around 45 million tons of grain, according to the U.N.

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BALTIC-2-BLACK is an occasional 4GWAR posting on the rising tensions between Russia and the West in the regions of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, where former Russian satellite nations — now members of NATO — border Russian territory. Both NATO, and the United States in particular, have stepped up their presence in the region since Russia began throwing its weight around after annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014. Since then, some Nordic countries have been boosting defense budgets even restoring a military draft as Russian aircraft and naval vessels have acted more aggressively in the region.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (February 3, 2023)

BRADLEYS ON THE WAY.

Ukraine-bound U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles (U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan) Click on the photo to enlarge image.

After weeks of discussions and negotiations with Germany and other NATO allies, the United States has agreed to send its top ground war machine, the Abrams M1A main battle tank, to Ukraine.

But its going to take several months to get the world’s most capable — but also one of the most complicated — armored vehicle systems to the front. The Pentagon says it’s going to take months to train Ukrainian troops on the Abrams and ready to face an expected Russian offensive late this year.

In the meantime, the U.S. is sending about five dozen M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to help Ukraine in the war against Vladimir Putin’s ruthless attacks. The Bradley is tracked like a tank, but smaller and in certain circumstances more maneuverable. Unlike the Abrams, the Bradley is considered a mechanized infantry vehicle that can carry a squad of seven soldiers into the combat zone as well as its three-person crew.

Bradleys have both offensive and defensive capabilities and provide “a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield as the Ukrainian military continues to defend their homeland,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder told a January 5 news conference.

The Bradley’s primary weapon is the M242 25 mm Automatic Cannon. Other weapons include a 7.62 Coaxial Machine Gun and a Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wireless-Guided (TOW) Anti-Tank Missile Launcher. The M2A4 also has a commander’s independent viewer that allows the commander to scan for targets and maintain situational awareness while remaining under protective armor and without interfering with the gunner’s acquisition and engagement of targets.

In the photo above, stevedore drivers work through the night of January 25 to load Bradleys onto the transport ship ARC Integrity at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina. More than 60 Bradleys were shipped by U.S. Transportation Command as part of the U.S. military aid package to Ukraine. USTRANSCOM is a combatant command focused on projecting and sustaining U.S. military power around the globe when needed.

(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan) Click on photo to enlarge image.

Operations hatch foreman Sergeant Ryan Townsend, of the Army’s 841st Transportation Battalion, inspects Bradley Fighting Vehicles as they are parked within the ARC Integrity. Integrity is an American Roll-on, Roll-off Carrier equipped with ramp access and a system of fixed and liftable cargo decks which constitute the main cargo section. This system enables the vessel to be reconfigured quickly to accommodate different cargoes and maximize lift capacity. The ramp systems make the vessels able to load and discharge cargo vehicles without cranes or other port loading facilities. ARC is the American-flagged ship operator moves tanks, helicopters and other equipment for the U.S. government and its various agencies.