Great news for SAKO: as reported by Finnish press sources, a meeting was held at the Company headquarters with representatives of the Defense Forces of Sweden and Finland, leading to the signature of contracts that represent both the pinnacle of the arrangement for the joint procurement of a small arms family between the two Countries and a vital step forward towards full NATO standardization. Finland and Sweden have both decided to ditch their decades-old policy of neutrality, joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization due to the aggressive stance of neighbouring Russia and the invasion of Ukraine.

The contract was signed for the SAKO company by its Chief Executive Officer Raimo Karjalainen and by Franco Gussalli Beretta, President and CEO of Beretta Holding, which SAKO has been part of since the year 2000.

Sweden and Finland decided to adopt an AR-based platform, consisting in a 5.56x45mm NATO AR-15 variant for general issue and a 7.62x51mm NATO accurized AR-10 rifle for designated marksmen. SAKO will soon begin delivery of trial samples, and the system will officially enter service in both Countries by 2025. The 10-years contract has a renewal option for a set of 7-years intervals, up until the end of 2053, and will include the formation of instructors for both armies.

Additionally, Sweden is planning to acquire a quantity of SAKO TRG-M10 .338 Lapua Magnum bolt-action sniper rifles to replace the currently issued PSG90 (Swedish military denomination for the British-made Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifle).

Both Sweden and Finland are in a desperate need to modernize their small arms inventory ahead of NATO membership. As of today, Finland still operates 7.62x39mm assault rifles, more specifically modernized versions of the Valmet Rk.62: great rifles – possibly the finest AK variants ever produced – but quite long in the tooth and by no means in line with NATO standards.

Swedish forces have been using a NATO standard rifle since the 1980s, in form of the Ak5 – a licensed, locally manufactured version of the Belgian 5.56mm FN FNC assault rifle, modified for better performance in arctic and subarctic conditions – which has been modernized multiple times and is now near the end of its service life. Additionally, the Hemvärnet (Swedish Home Guard) is still issued with the Ak4B, a Swedish license-manufactured version of the 7.62x51mm Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle, that has been modernized and customized multiple times and has been out of production in Sweden since 1985.

SAKO has already been manufacturing AR-platform rifles for a while: back in 2021, the Finnish Defense Forces adopted the SAKO M23 rifle – an accurized version of the AR-10 design in 7.62x51mm – as their new designated marksman rifle, in replacement of 7.62x54R platforms such as the Dragunov SVD and the Tkiv 85, a local bolt-action rifle based on the Mosin-Nagant action.

The choice may have fallen on an AR platform due to SAKO's capability to mass-produce such a system and, in no small part, due to its fully metallic construction: polymer has a sketchy performance record in arctic and subarctic conditions. The modular, multicaliber Ensio Firearms KAR-21 rifle was at one point rumored to be among the runners for adoption.