Finland’s national drone strategy positions drones as a cross-cutting national capability rather than a collection of isolated projects. Published as drone-related activity was accelerating across defence, industry and public authorities, the strategy seeks to provide a shared national direction for this development. Rather than creating momentum, the strategy aims to organise it.
Reflections by Lauri Kangas, CTO of PIA, highlight many of its central themes: the need for a coherent national ecosystem, faster implementation, and a more holistic approach to long-term capability building.
According to Kangas, the Finnish drone strategy should not be seen as purely transformational – nor merely as a summary of existing trends. It is both.
“The main objective in the strategy is to create a shared national vision and direction where Finland should focus its efforts.”
Since its publication, development has accelerated across multiple fronts. Retrospectively, the strategy has functioned as a reference point that many actors can align with.
“Retrospectively it seems that the strategy has provided a unifying framework for many ongoing initiatives and development actions. Some of the actions might have happened also without the strategy, but it is evident that the strategy has encouraged many to move forward with greater confidence and speed.”
This mirrors the strategy’s core message: drones are not a single-sector technology, but a systemic enabler affecting defence, industry, logistics, public services and security of supply.
Despite visible progress, Kangas highlights a critical concern: Finland is still approaching drones too often through isolated problem-solving. “Finland still lacks a sufficient sense of urgency for a holistic national approach. It is not enough to solve individual, isolated problems one at a time. Drone technologies cut across defence, security, logistics, telecommunications, regulation, industrial policy and public services.”
The strategic advantage emerges only when these elements are developed together.
“The real competitive advantage emerges only when these areas are developed together as part of a coherent ecosystem.”
The implication is clear and rests directly on the ecosystem logic emphasised throughout the drone strategy.
“Finland now needs to move toward a comprehensive national capability-building approach that simultaneously strengthens security, resilience and the Finnish drone industry.”
Without clear ownership, structures and resources, even the strongest strategy risks remaining declarative.
“To succeed, the strategy should be supported by a government-backed implementation programme with clearly defined ownership across different administrative sectors and authorities.”
Here, Finland’s size becomes an advantage rather than a limitation.
“Finland’s advantage is that we are small enough to operate in a coordinated and pragmatic way. If implementation is managed properly, Finland can move significantly faster than many larger countries.”
This directly reflects the strategy’s call for nationally coordinated programmes, shared infrastructure and cross-sector governance.
For Kangas, success metrics must go beyond policy milestones and pilot projects.
“Success should be measured through both capability development and ecosystem growth. On the public sector side, we should measure how effectively drones are integrated into authority operations, critical infrastructure protection and national security capabilities”
Equally important is whether Finland succeeds in building a genuinely collaborative national ecosystem.
“A key indicator is whether Finland succeeds in creating a functioning national drone ecosystem where authorities, industry and research organisations work together in a coordinated way.” From an industrial perspective, success becomes visible through scale and sustainability. “Indicators should include growth of the domestic drone ecosystem, export development, investment levels, testing activity and the number of scalable commercial solutions reaching the market.”
“Drone technologies are evolving at exceptional speed, and the strategic significance of drones has become visible to everyone through the war in Ukraine. At the same time, drones are not only a defence issue – they represent a much broader technological transformation with implications for logistics, public services, critical infrastructure, industrial productivity and security of supply.”
Finland cannot dominate every segment of the rapidly evolving drone domain. But that is not required.
“As a small country, Finland cannot lead in every domain, but we can become internationally competitive in selected high-value areas where we combine technological expertise, security know-how, harsh-environment capability and agile cooperation between authorities and industry. The drone strategy gives direction and vision for national development actions.”
The strategy provides direction. The outcome now depends on execution.
Lauri J. Kangas on toiminut yli 20 vuotta puolustusteknologian tutkimus- ja kehitystehtävissä niin Puolustusvoimissa kuin yritysmaailman johtotehtävissä. Hänellä on laaja kokemus uusien teknologioiden ja järjestelmien kehittämisestä sekä innovaatiohankkeiden johtamisesta Suomen puolustuksen ja yhteiskunnan tarpeisiin. Nykyisessä työssään hän keskittyy teknologiaekosysteemien kehittämiseen, yhteistyön vahvistamiseen sekä uusien ratkaisujen käyttöönoton edellytysten rakentamiseen.
