The Finnish government decided on Tuesday to take part in a NATO joint purchase of large military transport planes to develop Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC), the Finnish government said in a statement.
The decision was made at a meeting by Finnish President Tarja Halonen and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy on Tuesday.
SAC is a project launched in 2006 which involves 15 countries with the aim to meet the air transport capability required by involvement in the European Union's crisis management activities, said the statement.
Finland has been an observer in the project since early last year and as a full-fledged negotiating partner since last summer.
The members of the SAC consortium would be provided a strategic airlift capability by a joint procurement of three C-17 Globe master III transport aircraft and by creating the necessary elements for their support and maintenance, said the statement.
The participants have a right to use the transport capability in accordance with number of flight hours they have reserved. Finland's annual need of flight hours is estimated to be 100 hours, it said.
The other countries involved in SAC is Sweden and 13 NATO countries including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States.
Finland is not a NATO member, but a member of NATO's partnership for peace scheme.
Source:Xinhua
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