Denmark and Lithuania Buy Finland’s Blocker Naval Mines
Denmark and Lithuania are buying Finland’s Blocker naval mines through a joint deal that also includes Germany and Norway, Defense News reported.
Featured photo: Finnish minelayer FNS Pohjanmaa, right, with Denmark’s HDMS Absalon in the Baltic Sea in 2013 (file photo). Photo: MC1 Collin Turner, U.S. Navy, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
VIENNA — Denmark is buying Finland’s Blocker naval mines, a day after Lithuania went ahead with its own contract, Defense News reported on Nov. 6, 2026. Finland, where the mines are made, and Estonia already operate them.
The joint deal
The purchases run through the Naval Mines Cooperation, a joint procurement agreement among Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Germany and Norway, the report said. Germany and Norway have not publicly announced contracts. Finland signed a contract with manufacturer Forcit Defence in June on behalf of the five, worth “hundreds of millions of Euros,” according to the Finnish government.
Forcit advertises the proximity mine as having the explosive power of a ton of TNT and detecting ships with a range of sensors, Defense News said.
Why now
Mines have been in focus this year after Iran used them in the Strait of Hormuz, the report noted. The Baltic has also become a point of tension since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and with Finland and Sweden in NATO the sea is almost entirely surrounded by the alliance.
What to watch
Assessment: A shared mine type across Baltic navies would ease joint planning and logistics. A German decision, which German trade press says could come this year, would be the largest signal of the program’s scale.
