Minister of Defence signs three agreements at NATO Summit

On Tuesday 9 July 2024, Finland's Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen signed a Nordic Airspace Summit Declaration in connection with the NATO Summit in Washington. He also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) and a Letter of Intent on Multinational cooperation for the development and fielding of Allied software for Cloud and Edge services. The agreements are not legally binding.

"Security and interoperability in all circumstances and in all domains are of paramount importance to NATO. Besides, a robust Northern Region strengthens NATO's deterrence and defence capability and bolsters military cooperation," says Minister Häkkänen.

Nordic Airspace Summit Declaration

The Nordic defence ministers signed a Nordic Airspace Summit Declaration in connection with the NATO Summit. The main objective of the declaration is to enhance and strengthen the planning and implementation of air operations in Northern Europe.

"The aim is to develop airspace solutions, such as air and missile defence, in NATO's Northern Region. This could involve more extensive exercises, for example," says Häkkänen.

Memorandum of Understanding on Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space

In addition, Minister of Defence Häkkänen and 19 other ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS). The aim of the APSS initiative is to improve the capabilities of satellite systems providing persistent surveillance from space by harnessing the Allies' existing resources.

Finland will contribute with a satellite imagery production system that Allies can use to share satellite imagery data and provide analysis capabilities to NATO.

Letter of Intent on Multinational cooperation for the development and fielding of Allied software for Cloud and Edge services

On 9 July, Finland also signed the Letter of Intent (LoI) on Multinational cooperation for the development and fielding of Allied software for Cloud and Edge services. The initiative aims to develop cloud services and their use and explore how Allies can combine their national cloud and edge services through NATO's Digital Backbone.

Inquiries: Olli Rusanen, Senior Staff Officer (Nordic Airspace Summit Declaration), tel. +358 295 140 055; Kai Knape, Security Director (MoU on Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space), tel. +358 295 140 230; and Jukka-Pekka Virtanen, Ministerial Adviser (LoI on Multinational cooperation for the development and fielding of Allied software for Cloud and Edge services), tel. +358 295 140 208.