(Adds government confirmation, detail)
By Mike Stone and Essi Lehto
WASHINGTON/HELSINKI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Finland has chosen
U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighters in a
tender to replace ageing F/A-18 combat jets, and plans to order
64 planes with weapons systems, the government said on Friday.
Lockheed Martin competed for the deal with Sweden's Saab
, U.S. rival Boeing, France's Dassault
and Britain's BAE Systems.
The procurement is worth an estimated 8.378 billion euros
($9.44 billion), the government said.
"When comparing military performance, the F-35 best met our
needs," Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen told a news conference.
Reuters reported earlier on Friday that Lockheed Martin was
set to win the contract.
($1 = 0.8871 euros)
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington and Essi Lehto in
Helsinki; editing by Tim Hepher)