Estonia To Buy Minehunters from Britain

Estonia will buy three Sandown-class minehunters from Britain for 800 million kroons (51.3 million euros, $62.5 million), officials said April 6.

"The government has approved a preliminary agreement between Estonia and Great Britain under which three Sandown class minehunters will be bought," the government said in a statement.

The new defense vessels are expected to replace Estonia’s antiquated minesweeper fleet by 2010.

Estonia started to build up an army in 1991, when the Baltic state regained independence from the Soviet Union. Like its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia joined the NATO military alliance in 2004, the same year the three states joined the European Union.

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