Nokia joins Finnish Border Guard to build nationwide counter-drone network

Espoo-based Nokia announced on 25 June that its new Defence business unit will supply secure 4G/5G and edge-cloud networking to a Finnish-Nordic consortium led by the Finnish Border Guard. The project will connect sensors, patrol vehicles and boats to a common command-and-control platform, giving officers a real-time picture of unmanned-aircraft threats along Finland’s 1 300-kilometre land border and its extensive coastline. Finland has watched the sharp rise in low-cost commercial drones with growing concern. In the past 18 months the Border Guard has recorded several unauthorised flights over critical infrastructure, while neighbouring Estonia and Latvia have reported drone-borne smuggling attempts. By fusing radar feeds, electro-optical cameras and radio-frequency detection into an encrypted mobile network, the consortium aims to shorten the time between detection and response from “minutes to seconds”, according to Nokia Defence chair Mikko Hautala. Under the three-year programme Nokia will deliver ruggedised base-stations, private 5G cores and edge analytics that can be mounted on vehicles or deployed as rapid-set-up kits in the field. The Border Guard will test the system in Lapland and the Gulf of Finland during winter 2027 before rolling it out nationwide. Procurement documents seen by MarketScreener indicate a budget of €37 million, funded by Finland’s Supplementary Border Security Package and the EU’s Border Management and Visa Instrument.

International specialists travelling to Finland for system integration, field testing or policy consultations will need to navigate Schengen rules efficiently. VisaHQ’s Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) simplifies the visa and passport process by offering step-by-step digital applications, courier pickup and real-time status updates, ensuring engineers, executives and support staff can arrive on site without administrative delays.

For business travellers and logistics companies the stakes are high. Helsinki Airport handled 1.9 million passengers in May, and freight traffic through the ports of Kotka–Hamina and Turku has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. A coordinated counter-UAS network reduces the risk of drone disruptions that have forced airport closures elsewhere in Europe and reassures insurers that Finland remains a low-risk hub. Companies operating critical infrastructure—from energy plants to data centres—will also be able to hook into the secure network for situational alerts. From a policy perspective, the project signals that Finland is willing to combine NATO-compatible defence technologies with civilian 5G infrastructure, a model Brussels hopes other Schengen members will follow. It also creates new export opportunities for Nokia in the fast-growing counter-drone market, estimated by Frost & Sullivan to reach €6 billion globally by 2030.