Defence Command (Finland)

Defence Command
Pääesikunta Huvudstaben
Founded	1918-02-02[1]
Country	Finland
Size	ca. 200 military, ca. 200 civilian employees[2]
Part of	Chief of Defence
Commanders
Chief of Staff	Vice Admiral Juha Rannikko

The Finnish Defence Command (Finnish: Pääesikunta, Swedish: Huvudstaben) is the headquarters of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its duty is to care for the maintenance, planning and preparedness of the military defence of the realm.^[2]

Organisation

The Defence Command is subordinate to the Chief of Defence who is the day-to-day commander of the Defence Forces. It is headed by the chief of staff, usually a lieutenant general. The three services of the Defence Forces and the Finnish National Defence University are not under the immediate command of the Defence Command but directly subordinate to the Chief of Defence. On the other hand, there are a number of military establishments that are directly subordinated to the Defence Command.

The Defence Command is divided into divisions (Finnish: osasto), each headed by a chief of division. Some of these are grouped under deputy chiefs of staff responsible for a number of sections.^[3]

The sections are^[3]

• Executive office
  • Internal audit unit
  • Technical inspections unit
  • Public information division
  • Internal planning section
  • Preparedness section
  • Internal personnel section
  • Internal logistics section
  • Protocol section
• Deputy Chief of Staff, operations (Finnish: operaatiopäällikkö)
  • Intelligence Division (J2)
    • Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency
  • Operations division (J3)
  • C5 systems division (J8)
    • Defence Forces C5 Agency
• Deputy Chief of Staff, strategy
  • Plans and policy division (J5)
    • Finnish Defence Research Agency
• Deputy Chief of Staff, logistics and armaments (Finnish: sotatalouspäällikkö)
  • Logistics division (J4)
  • Finnish Defence Forces Materiel Command
• Deputy Chief of Staff for personnel
  • Legal division
  • Training division (J7)
  • Personnel division (J1)
    • Defence Forces Service Center

The Defence Command is part of the Garrison of Helsinki, and it is supported in many aspects by other military units located in the area, the most visible of which is the Guard Jaeger Regiment. The conscripts who are serving in Defence Command as e.g. as journalists for the Defence Forces Ruotuväki magazine or as lawyer officer candidates in the legal division are administratively members of the regiment.

References

1. ↑ Päämaja 1918. Finnish Defence Forces. 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2015-08-30. (Finnish)
2. 1 2 Perustietoa. Finnish Defence Forces. 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2015-08-30. (Finnish)
3. 1 2 Pääesikunnan osastot. Finnish Defence Forces 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2015-08-30. (Finnish)