From: bolin@plafys.plasma.kth.se (Odd Bolin, Royal Inst of Tech, Stockholm, Sweden)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Finnish Defense
Date: 21 Dec 92 15:14:48 GMT
Reply-To: bolin@plafys.plasma.kth.se
Organization: Plasma Physics, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

In article <1992Dec18.222938.14364@nntp.hut.fi>, mtf@saha.hut.fi (dalens ande) writes:
>
> Although I'm no military expert, I can't really agree with this. The soviet
>military (along with space research) was *the* pride of ex-Soviet Union, and
>it was top class by any standards. The Soviet troops weren't very motivated in
>Afghanistan, but things could be different. A charismatic leader could use the
>current confusion and social problems and focus peoples thoughts on nationa-
>lism and panslavism, and have the most motivated army in the world. The
>know-how and high-tech are still there, at least for the most part.
>
My profession is space physics, and I have had the chance to see and talk about
Soviet space equipment at a number of occasions. It is working, the same way as
a DC 3 airplane is working. The technological level is "stone age" compared to
the American, European and Japanese stuff. Do you know that the MIR space
station uses the same communications equipment as some of the Soviet military
aircraft used during WWII?! (You can actually listen to the cosmonauts using a
cellular phone.) Any idea of what radio communications sounded like 50 years
ago?

The West Germans where rather shocked by the quality of some of the equipment
they inherited from the East German army. The Swedish army tested 5 Soviet
tanks (the ones we have feared for so long...). The where better than our
present ones when it came to firing, but the couldn't manouvre. They got stuck
in the swamps. The Iraqis used fairly up-to-date Soviet tanks (not the very
latest model, but the one before that), and look what a beating they took from
the American and French tank and armoured helicopter units.

The size of the Russian army is huge, but the quality is certainly not as
impressive. Of course that doesn't mean that the Russians should be
underestimated if they attack (which they might very well do if some of the
really conservative people got the upper hand), but it implies that it is worth
fighting!

> Also, having observed the finnish army from a grass-root level for the past
>nine months (yea, I'm in the army *sigh*), I haven't become very convinced
>of the effeciency of the finnish army... If the russians would attack here,
>finns would probably be very motivated to fight back (the gallups show this,
>most people I know who are doing the armed service would, according to their 
>own words at least, flee to Surinam :-), but the level of technical skill
>and competence is *not* high, and at the moment most people there aren't 
>motivated at all. 
>
I am fairly certain the level of motivation would increase if Finland actually
was threatened.

> Well, I used the "few hundred" as a symbolic expression... I'm sure they
>could send *enough* MIGs to gain complete control of finnish air space 
>(which of course would be disastrous for Finland) if they wanted to.
>
I am not so sure. They actually don't have that many modern fighters. Just like
in the States, many planes are older machines used for local defence purposes.
And I have a hard time believing that they will withdraw their units along
their Asian or European borders in order to attack Finland. (This is partly
true for their army units too).

Odd Bolin



Odd Bolin
Department of Plasma Physics, Alfven Laboratory
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Ph: +46 - 8 - 790 7701	Fax: +46 - 8 - 245431
Internet: bolin@plasma.kth.se