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The Finnish technology company DA-Group and the Forum Marinum Maritime Centre entered into an agreement to stage the Underwater Warfare Exhibition at DA-Group’s headquarters in Forssa. The Exhibition will be opened in 2020.

Finland has over a hundred-year experience in underwater warfare, its threats and development of defence methods. The Forum Marinum Foundation has a vast collection of underwater warfare items dating back from the time before Finland’s independence all the way to the present day. This unique material has, until now, been stored in challenging conditions with a limited public access.

The cooperation between Forum Marinum, being also the host of the Finnish Navy Museum, and DA-Group enables to establish the exhibition of the museum collection. The objective of the project is two-fold: to display this unique material and to preserve it in appropriate conditions.

Forum Marinum will manage and maintain the Underwater Warfare Exhibition. Guided tours of the Exhibition will be organized by Forum Marinum. Public open houses will also be offered.

- We seemed to be faced only with poor alternatives, but now the cooperation with DA-Group enables the preservation and showcasing of the special underwater warfare material. In my opinion, this is culturally a very important deed, states Tapio Maijala, Forum Marinum’s Managing Director.

- We are excited about this opportunity to offer the premises for this internationally unique exhibition. DA-Group has operated in the defence sector for almost two decades, and the company has provided demanding electronics and mechanics for sea mines. In the Exhibition, we are able to present also some equipment designed and manufactured by DA-Group, such as target detection devices for naval mines. Hosting the Exhibition in our premises is a natural continuing of what we do and where we want be involved in, says Sami Kotiniemi, CEO of DA-Group.

Significant part of Finland’s naval defence history will be saved

The comprehensive underwater warfare museum material being transferred to Forssa was previously housed in the Finnish Defence Forces’ underground storage facilities located in Pansio of the Turku area. The core element of the collection consists of over 80 naval mine items, originating in a collection of underwater warfare equipment put together by the Navy for training purposes since the 1920s. The Pansio naval mine collection was assembled in 1996 based on the initiative of Commander (ret.) Eero Auvinen as well as with the support of the Navy and individual sponsors.

The off-site exhibition in Pansio also consisted of previously preserved equipment, which was used in the Navy’s operations, such as mine detection and sweeping equipment, diver operations devices, various torpedoes as well as materials related to torpedo development and warfare.

Until 2019, the Finnish Defence Forces has carried the storage costs of the collection, and Forum Marinum has been responsible of its management with the War Museum’s mandate. After the Finnish Defence Forces’ release of the underground storage facilities in Pansio, Forum Marinum has been seeking for the solution to preserve the special collection. DA-Group in Forssa became the collaborator.

In August, 2019, the Forum Marinum Foundation and DA-Group entered into an agreement to build the Exhibition in DA-Group’s premises in Forssa. Instead of the customary warehousing of the museum items, the result of the cooperation brings a truly unique Exhibition of underwater warfare’s long and interesting history. The Exhibition will be operated by Forum Marinum and it will be opened in 2020.

More information:

Tapio Maijala
Managing Director, Forum Marinum
tapio.maijala@forum-marinum.fi
+358 50 342 4500

Sami Kotiniemi
CEO, DA-Group
sami.kotiniemi@da-group.fi
+358 29 0800 912

Curator:
Mikko Meronen
Researcher
mikko.meronen@forum-marinum.fi
+358 50 342 7922

Photo material: http://www.forum-marinum.fi/fi/info/kuvapankki/

DA-Group is a provider of advanced electronics and high technology solutions and products. We serve industrial, defence and space sector customers on a global scale. We are experts in embedded software solutions, FPGA designs, electronics, mechanics and simulations in naval technology, as well as RF, microwave and millimeter wave engineering. Our service portfolio covers the turnkey solutions: from R&T, product development and engineering, testing and validation, manufacturing to product lifecycle management. Established in 1995, DA-Group employs over 120 professionals. The headquarters are located in Forssa with offices in Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere and Turku.
www.da-group.com

The Forum Marinum Maritime Centre, based in Turku, is a Finnish national special maritime museum and the museum of the Finnish Navy. Along with museum activities, Forum Marinum offers versatile services for creating maritime events, meetings and training opportunities. A high-quality restaurant and unique event facilities make Forum Marinum also into a popular venue for conferences and festive occasions.

The Maritime Centre is administered by the Forum Marinum Foundation, established in 1998. The Foundation’s objective is to maintain and preserve the maritime cultural heritage of the coastal areas of southwestern Finland, the Archipelago Sea and the Baltic Sea. Forum Marinum is a member of the Finnish Museums Association, the Trafiikki Museums Association, the ICOM (International Council of Museums) and the ICMM (International Council of Maritime Museums). http://www.forum-marinum.fi/en/