The main purpose of maritime defence during peace is to maintain the integrity of Finnish territorial waters. To have a credible defence and to retain strategic balance in the northern Baltic Sea, it is important for Finland to show that it can supervise its territory and identify vessels like any other independent state.

In order for different surveillance authorities to co-operate effectively, systems for presenting information must be compatible and command structures unified. The marine surveillance system (MEVAT), introduced in Finland in the 1990s, is used by practically the entire Defence Forces marine surveillance organization and the Frontier Guard posts that participate in marine surveillance.

An image of the sea area produced by the MEVAT system can include information on targets under surveillance.