On October 30, 2023, the Finnish shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) in Rauma hosted the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the Finnish Navy of a new type of lead corvette Pohjanmaa, out of four contracted under the promising Finnish program Laivue 2020 ("Flotilla 2020").
The appearance of promising Finnish corvettes of the Pohjanmaa type (c) of the Finnish Navy
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. As part of the Finnish Navy, four new corvettes are to replace four upgraded Rauma-type missile boats, two Hämeenmaa-type minelayers and a minelayer and the flagship of the Pohjanmaa fleet, which was withdrawn from the fleet at the end of 2013.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 corvette under the Laivue 2020 program 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 of these 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 now it is estimated at 1.45 billion euros.
The program has now been delayed by about two years in relation to the planned deadlines, and now the transfer of the lead corvette Pohjanmaa for testing is expected in 2026, and the delivery of all four ships to the fleet by the end of 2029. The construction of the corvettes will be 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, the cost of which amounted to 26 million euros.
A feature of the new Finnish corvettes is a 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 a low-noise anti-submarine search mode of low strokes, two diesel generators are installed 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 Raytheon ESSM Block 2 medium-range anti-aircraft guided missiles, one 57-mm Bofors Mk 3 universal artillery mount (removed from Hamina-type missile boats during modernization), two remote-controlled Saab Trackfire installations RWX (apparently with 12.7 mm machine guns), torpedo tubes for 400 mm Saab Tp 47 anti-submarine torpedoes. The ship is equipped with two pairs of mine rails (declared the ability to receive 100 mines of the RV 17 type). The corvette provides permanent basing of the medium helicopter in the hangar.
The basis of the ship's electronic armament will be the equipment of the Saab AB - ASBU 9LV group, the 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 the towed active-passive GASP Patria Sonac DTS, the underside active GASP Kongsberg SS2030 and the active lowered GASP Kongsberg SD9500. Advanced electronic intelligence and electronic warfare equipment and a Rheinmetall MASS firing jamming system will also be installed.
The appearance of promising Finnish corvettes of the Pohjanmaa type (c) of the Finnish Navy