On May 21, 2025, the Finnish shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) in Rauma hosted the official launching ceremony of the new type of corvette Pohjanmaa, which is under construction for the Finnish Navy, out of four contracted under the promising Finnish program Laivue 2020 ("Flotilla 2020").
The lead corvette of the new type Pohjanmaa, which is under construction for the Finnish Navy, after being launched for completion at the dry dock of the Finnish shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) in Rauma, 05/21/2025 (c) RMC
In fact, the technical part of the corvette launching process began in early May, when the ship was moved from the shipyard's construction boathouse to a launching diving barge and brought into the harbor. In the harbor, the ship was physically launched from a barge, and then towed to the shipyard's dry dock for further completion work, including the installation of a multifunctional mast in recent days. The ship is scheduled to be put on trial in 2026 and commissioned into the Finnish Navy in 2027.
In September 2015, the Finnish Ministry of Defense officially decided to launch the Laivue 2020 program to purchase four multi-purpose corvettes for the Finnish Navy. The Finnish Navy has four new corvettes to replace four upgraded Rauma-type missile boats, two Hämeenmaa-type minelayers and the minelayer and flagship of the Pohjanmaa fleet, which was withdrawn from the fleet at the end of 2013. Along with four upgraded Hamina-type missile boats, four large Pohjanmaa-type corvettes under the Laivue 2020 program should form the basis of the Finnish navy's forces for the next two decades.
During the design and repeated revision of the requirements, the dimensions of the prospective Laivue 2020 corvette increased from the initial approximately 2,500 tons of full displacement and a length of 90 m to a total displacement of 4,300 tons and a length of 117 m (width 16 m, draft 5 m), making them large ships of essentially frigate rank. In September 2019, the RMC shipyard received a contract worth 647.6 million euros for the technical design and construction of four corvettes for the Finnish Navy (the contract price does not include government supplies of weapons and parts of radio equipment). Initially, the total cost of acquiring four corvettes for the Finnish Navy was limited to a limit of 1.2 billion euros, but at the beginning of 2024 it was estimated at 1.45 billion euros.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction of the lead corvette of the Pohjanmaa type took place at the RMC shipyard in Rauma on October 30, 2023, and the official laying ceremony of the lead ship took place there on April 11, 2024. There, on October 9, 2024, the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction of the second corvette took place, and the ceremony of its official laying was held on May 8, 2025.
The program has now been delayed by about two years relative to the planned dates, and now the delivery of all four ships to the Finnish navy is expected from 2027 to the end of 2029. The construction of the corvettes is being carried out in a specially built RMC new boathouse with a length of 186 m, a width of 44 m and a height of 32 m, which cost 26 million euros.
A special feature of the new Finnish corvettes is the reinforced hull for action in ice conditions. The combined main diesel-gas turbine-electric power plant according to the CODLAG scheme with a total capacity of 29 MW should include a General Electrcic LM2500 afterburner gas turbine, four MAN 12V175D diesel generators (1920 kW each) and two propeller electric motors powered by two variable pitch propellers. For the low-noise low-speed anti-submarine search mode, two diesel generators are mounted on special platforms with a shock absorption cascade. The full speed of the ship should be 26 knots, the cruising range is 3,500 miles, the autonomy is 14 days, the crew is 73 people, with the possibility of receiving up to 120 people.
The ship's armament should consist of eight new Israeli IAI Gabriel Mk 5 anti-ship missiles, eight Mk 41 vertical launchers for 32 RTX ESSM Block 2 medium-range anti-aircraft guided missiles, one 57mm Bofors Mk 3 universal artillery system (removed from Hamina-type missile boats during modernization), two remote-controlled Saab Trackfire installations. RWX (apparently with 12.7mm machine guns), torpedo tubes for 400 mm Saab Tp 47 anti-submarine torpedoes. The ship is equipped with two pairs of mine rails (claimed to be capable of receiving 100 RV 17 type mines). The corvette has a permanent base for an average helicopter in a hangar.
The ship's electronic weapons will be based on Saab AB - ASBU 9LV group equipment, Sea Giraffe 4A FF general detection radar (with fixed AFAR antennas in an integrated mast) and Sea Giraffe 1X, two CEROS 200 fire control systems. The ship will have enhanced sonar armament, including a towed active-passive gas station Patria Sonac DTS, a Kongsberg SS2030 undercarriage active gas station and an active lowered gas station Kongsberg SD9500. Advanced electronic intelligence and electronic warfare systems and the Rheinmetall MASS jamming system will also be installed.
Physical launching of the new type of Pohjanmaa corvette under construction for the Finnish Navy at the Finnish shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) in Rauma from a launching diving barge, May 2025 (c) RMC
Video (from) RMC :
