Bittium Wireless Ltd, a subsidiary of Bittium Corporation, and the Finnish Defence Forces have signed a Partnership Agreement for the years 2025–2036. The Partnership Services to be purchased under the agreement apply to the life cycle setup and maintenance of the command-and-control systems manufactured by Bittium and used by the Finnish Defence Forces. Those include for example tactical communications systems and the products related to the systems (Bittium Tactical Wireless IP Network™, Bittium Tough SDR™, Bittium Tough VoIP™) as well as their related maintenance and further development.
The Partnership Agreement establishes a framework for purchasing Bittium’s products, software, and services. The purchases are planned together with the Finnish Defence Forces for each year. The Finnish Defence Forces will issue separate purchase orders for the products and services in several batches according to what has been agreed in the Partnership Agreement. The monetary value of the Partnership Agreement depends on the needs and funding of Finnish Defence Forces’ projects and on the agreed maintenance and development services for each year.
The purpose of the agreement is for the partnership to become a solid part of the national defence and to ensure the availability of national competence and technologies in Finland that are critical for the military security of supply. The agreement was signed on Monday, November 25, 2024, at Tampere, Finland by the Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command, Brigadier General Tero Ylitalo and Director of the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command Joint Systems Centre, Colonel Jari Virolainen, along with the CEO of Bittium Corporation Johan Westermarck and Senior Vice President of Defense & Security Business Segment Tommi Kangas.
“The Partnership Agreement is the result of cooperation that has continued for decades and establishes a framework for collaboration long into the decade to come. We are very proud of the trust and confidence shown in our products and solutions. The agreement signed now creates mechanisms for joint planning for both normal conditions and states of emergency. Those mechanisms allow Bittium to plan and supply products, service, repair, maintenance, and development related activities for the Finnish Defence Forces in the long-term,” says Johan Westermarck, CEO of Bittium Corporation.
The Partnership Agreement replaces the purchase agreement and its option for additional purchases of Bittium Tough SDR Handheld and Vehicular radios that was signed by Bittium and the Finnish Defence Forces on December 12, 2018. The framework agreement signed on November 14, 2023, by Bittium and the Finnish Defence Forces for the purchase of the software-defined radio based Bittium Tactical Wireless IP Network™ (TAC WIN) system’s products and Bittium Tough Comnode™ communications devices and related accessories, will be included as part of the Partnership Agreement.
Bittium announced on April 5, 2024, with a stock exchange release that the Finnish Minister of Defence Mr. Antti Häkkänen had authorized the Finnish Defence Forces to sign a partnership agreement with Bittium Wireless Ltd.