In Finland, the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) are focused primarily on territorial defense, which is based on having a large, trained reserve force created by general conscription; active-duty FDF units absorb and train more than 20,000 conscripts annually; the resulting pool of trained reservists gives the FDF a wartime strength of approximately 280,000 and a total reserve of some 900,000 citizens with military service; other FDF responsibilities include support to international peacekeeping operations and some domestic security duties, such as assisting the National Police in maintaining law and order in crises

the FDF is also focused on fulfilling its new commitment to NATO; following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Finland reassessed its security policy situation and applied for NATO membership and gained entry in April 2023; as a member of the Alliance, Finland is part of NATO’s collective defense and is covered by the security guarantees enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty); Finland had been part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program since 1994, and the FDF exercised with some NATO members and participated in NATO-led military missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq; in 2024, it joined NATO's Air Policing mission in Eastern Europe; Finland also is a signatory of the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy and actively participates in EU crisis management missions and operations; the FDF cooperates closely with the militaries of other Nordic countries through the Nordic Defense Cooperation structure (NORDEFCO; established 2009), which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden and involves cooperation in such areas as armaments, education, human resources, training and exercises, and operations; Finland considers Sweden as its closest bi-lateral security partner; the UK and the US are also close defense partners; in 2022, Finland signed a mutual security agreement with the UK, and since 2014 has been part of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a pool of high-readiness military forces from 10 Baltic and Scandinavian countries designed to respond to a wide range of contingencies in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea, and High North regions

the bulk of the FDF’s annual intake of conscripts go into the Army; in peacetime, the Army has five combat brigades, which include armored, jaeger/light infantry, and mechanized infantry forces, plus regiments of light infantry, special forces, and helicopter assault forces; the Navy has a mix of missile-armed patrol craft, fast patrol boats, and mine warfare vessels; it is slated to receive four multirole corvettes by 2029; the Navy also has a coastal defense brigade, which includes anti-ship missile and naval special operations forces and a naval infantry brigade maintained at cadre strength that incorporates about 1,500 conscripts annually; the Air Force has about 60 US-made F/A-18 multirole fighters, which are scheduled to be replaced by US-origin F-35 stealth multirole fighters beginning in 2025 (2023)