Arto Tuomas Räty (born 25 October 1955 in

Parikkala Parikkala () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia regions of Finland, region, from Lappeenranta and from Joensuu. The town ce ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

with the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

. He was promoted a brigadier general in 2004 and lieutenant general in 2010. During his career, Räty served e.g. in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

during 1994–1997 as the

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

and as a liaison officer with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, and in the

KFOR KFOR may refer to: * KFOR (AM), a radio station (1240 AM) licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, * KFOR-TV, a television station (channel 4 analog/27 digital) licensed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, * KFOR-TV (Nebraska), a defun ...

operation in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in 2000, as the head of the Finnish battalion. In 2006, Räty was in a committee recommended that Finland purchase

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

A330 MRTT The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is a European aerial refueling and military transport aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330. A total of 15 countries have placed firm orders for approximately 82 aircraft, of which 64 had ...

jets that could be used both by

Finnair Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier and largest full-service legacy airline of Finland, with headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its airline hub, hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

and the

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (; ) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence For ...

. They would have been used primarily by Finnair, but they could have been modified in 24 hours to suit the needs of the military, both as cargo planes and tanker planes. This would have enabled the Finnish Defence to train its

F-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas and North ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s to refuel while airborne. The recommendation was not adopted by the state. The climax of Räty's career was his posting as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

during 2011–2015. He sought a second five-year-term in this office, and was according to many the favourite among five candidates, and even tipped to become the next Commander-in-chief of the Finnish Armed Forces, but the Finnish

Defence minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Jussi Niinistö Jussi Niinistö (born 27 October 1970 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and a former Minister of Defence and a former member of Finnish Parliament, representing the Finns Party 2011–2017 and Blue Reform since 2017. By occupation he is a mil ...

nominated instead Major General of the Corps of Engineers

Jukka Juusti Jukka Matti Juusti (born 16 May 1955) is a Finnish Engineer Major General ( special officer), retired, and he holds a Master of Science degree in technology. When appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence as of 1 January 2016, h ...

for this post.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raty, Arto 1955 births Living people People from Parikkala Finnish lieutenant generals