Robin Häggblom, senior advisor & project manager @Riskstaff, personal account. 'Friendliest military blogger in the Nordics' according to @PeterOlsson 😎
Joined January 2014
- Tweets 54,361
- Following 2,281
- Followers 17,567
- Likes 120,933
3,780 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
11 Apr 2022
Because Ukraine was never beyond possibility.
Because a trained reserve and a high will to defend the country remain foundations of Finland’s defence.
Because, as Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?"
8
25
334
Corporal Frisk retweeted
Jun 12
… ska det bli spännande att se om någon annan axlar den uppgift som jag, @Twitt_Skipper m.fl. en gång åtog oss att granska Försvarsberedningens rapporter i sömmarna. Det finns nämligen en del hårdkola redan i denna rapport.
8
6
89
5,293
Corporal Frisk retweeted
Jun 13
I am appalled that anyone can defend the actions of violent evil thugs who broke into businesses, and attacked a policewoman with a sledgehammer, shattering her spine.
My only complaint about the sentence was that it was far too short, by several decades.
12
46
435
23,440
Jun 13
It’s an interesting development for sure if realised, but let’s be real - if your operational need is for a Tomahawk, you don’t really cover that with a (or four) Flamingo. There’s a reason why one is significantly more expensive.
Germany wants to produce Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile on German soil. The reason: Trump cancelled the Tomahawks that were supposed to be there.
Diehl Defence - maker of IRIS-T - is in talks with Fire Point. Meetings planned in coming weeks. The German firm brings an upgraded guidance system. Ukraine brings the missile and the combat experience.
Fire Point produces 200 Flamingos a month at ~$500,000 each - a quarter of a Tomahawk's price.
Ukrainian weapons are filling the gaps American politics left behind.
10
2
59
6,609
Jun 12
Met a camouflaged horse today. Now to continue on our road trip.
5
2
47
2,079
Jun 11
Every country has their own process, and I've yet to see a perfect one, but it does feel like there's a slight process issue here. Ideally when writing long-term plans like the SDR, you have already factored in how to fund them.
Otherwise they are not plans, but dreams.
Jun 11
Defence Investment Plan (yet another DIP update):
- discussions between Treasury, MOD and No10 still “live” as of last night despite earlier claims that a long-running disagreement over a proposed ~£13bn additional uplift in funding was largely resolved (this figure is much less than the military say they need and is regarded - to put it mildly - as “not enough”)
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has written to the Prime Minister amid concerns that the funding boost proposed by the Treasury is not enough. I don’t know what the content of the letter was. But clearly this highly unusual move is a signal of the seriousness of the moment and the challenge that Sir Keir Starmer faces to get a credible and affordable Defence Investment Plan over the line. It is worth adding that it’s perfectly legitimate for a CDS to write to a PM but not the kind of action he would take regularly
- expectations valiantly hanging in there for an announcement of a vast new defence drone testing centre to happen in Swindon on Friday. Various start-ups were as of yesterday still making plans to go (me too - was there last week, could make this a regular commute). The talk last night had been about this drone testing moment being something that could take place to coincide with some words from the PM announcing top line figures of the funding for defence and some of the key programmes in the DIP. But this clearly can’t happen until there is a firm agreement on the settlement
- DIP then unveiled in full on Monday before the PM heads off to the G7 (though again this presumably can’t happen unless the money is green lit)
(It is worth saying that this extraordinary display of confusion and paralysis at the heart of government over what is meant to be a strategic priority – the defence of the nation – has left officials inside the MoD, the military and defence industry slack-jawed)
1
4
48
7,026
Jun 11
Well then, this was quite something 🤔
2
10
1,607
Jun 11
Discussions soon starting on the Finnish Air Force BAE Hawk replacement, giving us the opportunity to finally buy a @Saab aircraft. The odds of this are getting better due to the MoD probably not wanting to explain to the public why we bought an aircraft developed in Russia... 😆
Jun 11
Ilmavoimien seuraava lentokonehankinta siintää lähitulevaisuudessa - edessä Hawkien korvaushanke lentoposti.fi/uutiset/ilmavo… #Ilmavoimat #Hawk #ilmask #turpo
9
5
81
14,871
Jun 11
The M346 would be my guess otherwise, and the Russian connection isn't really a real story any longer, but we all know Finnish tabloids would have field day 🙃
2
10
1,644
Jun 10
I had not know we had the #Sten SMG in Finnish service, let alone having ever seen a picture of one during a parade 😮
Jun 10
Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces in Tammisaari (Ekenäs). June 4, 1966
ALT Source: Museovirasto / Bror Brandt
11
1
82
8,147
Jun 10
A few years ago I noted JEF as a suitable framework for a back-up plan if we need a Eurocentric NATO-replacement at some point, but that rested on the UK being an at least somewhat serious player when it comes defence...
Jun 10
The situation inside the MoD is so bad that Britain is second bottom in a Nato league table that ranks member states based on the extent to which they are meeting their rearmament promises.
The UK is currently 31 out of 32 countries on a list — which may be published by the end of the month — detailing how each country is progressing in hitting the alliance’s capability requirements. The only country below the UK is understood to be Iceland, which does not have a military.
thetimes.com/article/fe3f6c3…
7
10
57
8,581
With today's #FCAS-discussion, it feels like the time to highlight my discussion on the future Swedish fighter program I wrote last year. A joint Swedish-German project was not something I discussed, but it gives an overview of Swedish needs and priorities corporalfrisk.com/2025/02/19…
9
4
47
6,494
The big question of course is, do anyone want to join a German-led alliance to replace FCAS/SCAF? x.com/FT/status/206439738562…
Jun 9
A group of eight aerospace and defence companies will announce they are ready to pool their capabilities as a core team to ensure 'war-readiness' in the air for future decades. ft.trib.al/f0iN7AP
2
3
10
2,167
Corporal Frisk retweeted
Jun 9
BREAKING: A U.S. Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew from a U.S. Apache attack helicopter that crashed into waters near Oman’s coast, the U.S. military’s Central Command told Reuters, in an apparent first.
31
338
2,157
412,332
May 25
Why did Sweden end up with the FDI, do they need a frigate at all, wouldn't buying Swedish be better, what did they change and why, and why can't the Nordics find a common frigate design?
All of this, and a picture of HMS Göta Lejon, over on the blog. corporalfrisk.com/2026/05/25…
39
91
493
136,444
...and we have a confirmation on missile numbers: 24x Aster 30 in Sylver and 24x CAMM-ER in dedicated cold-launch systems, which ironically was one of the iterations I did *not* mention (I thought the cold launchers if used would mean 16 48) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ x.com/xaviervav/status/20642…
Jun 9
I met with Naval Group's VP of sales, Europe and North America, for a brief update on the Lulea-class frigate program 🇫🇷🇸🇪
🏗️ The French shipbuilder is very confident they will deliver the first ship in 2030
🚀 I learned the SAM configuration for the "Swedish FDI" consists in 24x Aster 30 24x CAMM-ER (cold launched from a new launcher developed in-house by Naval Group)
🇸🇪 Swedish weapon systems include Bofors 57mm and 40mm guns, RBS15 (Robotsystem 15) ASM and Torped 47 / SLWT (Saab's Lightweight Torpedo)
Stay tuned for the video coverage...
2
2
35
4,217
This is again one of the reasons why I like to sometimes highlight the cases where military and political leadership actually said "You know what? Enough's enough" and didn't fall for the sunken cost fallacy.
Jun 9
EXC: MoD is set to divert more than £250mn extra to the Army’s beleaguered Ajax programme over the next 4 years, acc to ppl familiar with matter
Projected lifetime cost of the programme is expected to come to an additional £1bn overall, they say
More cash for Ajax is likely to be highly controversial given it’s been hit with cost overruns, lengthy delays and persistent issues around noise and vibration
ft.com/content/476abce0-3a9b…
2
5
55
6,093
Yes, there's a number of highly controversial projects that turned around to become great success stories, but these were usually trying to push the cutting edge of technology, not invent a platform literally available of the shelf from half a dozen suppliers.
1
21
915
Corporal Frisk retweeted
At @ILA_Berlin, we introduce the Airbus U145: an uncrewed, fully autonomous variant of the H145. Optimised for cargo with no cockpit, an integrated nose door, and full autonomy, its first flight is set for late 2026.
Jun 8
Airbus introduces an uncrewed version of the H145, the U145, to its range.
Read the press release: ow.ly/ZFJm50Z8EQY
121
644
3,517
674,731
For those wondering about the end-state of the Iran War, it might be worth remembering that after the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel and (primarily) Egypt spent more than three years trading air and artillery strikes, backed up by occasional commando raids. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of…
1
6
21
2,435
The conflict really didn't lead to any changes on the ground nor diplomatically, and crucially the Suez Canal remained closed. The costs were however significant. Thousands of people died, and hundreds of aircraft were shot down.
1
1
6
1,571
Excellent point by @TifoFootball_ about the fact that the US might not understand this is their #sportswashing moment, which could make for an interesting narrative 😁 youtu.be/G-otQ_CaKhg?si=vJ3N…
2
1,636