*Tikka, and that is actually a sub-brand of SAKO. Just nitpicking here, I don't mean to bust balls.
Like 10 years ago, Beretta offered the ARX-160 to the Finnish Defence Forces as a replacement for their assault rifles, and offered production at the SAKO factory in Finland. FDF did test them (to my knowledge), but declined. Probably were not too impressed, and money was very tight at the time. Instead they just decided to modernize our old AK-pattern rifles.
But it's obvious, that at the same time (or just a year or two later), Beretta had allowed Sako to start their development of their own assault rifle (basically a gas piston AR-15), that has now been adopted by Sweden, will be adopted by Finland, and is also competing for Project Grayburn of UK. They accepted that the ARX wasn't a hit, and were willing to allow their subsidiaries to develop other options. And it's now landing them at least two big military contracts. They have smart owners. Instead of H&K, who spend more time in the courts complaining about contractts they didn't win, to improve their great reputation.
I fucking hope that H&K is excluded from every FDF tender from now on, with how they delayed the new assault rifle program with over a year with a lost cause from the beginning.
