following John Lacey's Finnish Patriot system artwork i picked up the Minitanks 1/87 model of the MAN 8x8 launcher unit to build in the standard Finnish Maavoimat 'splinter' scheme
... as with so many what if ideas, truth is often stranger than fiction, in the case of Finnish patriot missiles, there was the news item at the end of 2011 about an impounded shipment of missiles from Germany (Israeli origin?) en route to Korea (via China??) they let the vessel go but (so far ??) have kept the 69 Patriot missiles and launch boxes which were palleted in containers
As a 'what if' scenario, how about a 'back door' way of Finland receiving the system as part of the US. 'missile shield' project currently being rolled out across the former eastern Europe? There's no way the majority of the populace or the Parliament would ever approve such a purchase in current economic climes, and to 'join' the US. endevor openly no matter what 'offsets' were offered, would be seen as yet one more step toward full 'official' NATO. Membership! (as well as really pissing off the neighbouring Russians ! hmm maybe they would do it after all, haha !)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16292244http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/12/22/germany-impounded-patriot-missiles-were-legitimate-shipment/cheers, Joe