Brigadier General, Karsikas started his conscript service as infantry in the Finnish Army in 1990. Trained as a Reconnaissance Platoon Leader he was promoted to reserve 2nd Lieutenant in 1991. Following conscript service, he joined the Finnish Defence Force (FDF) Military Academy (Cadet School) in 1991, graduating in 1995 as a 1st Lieutenant.
Serving his early career at the company level as a Signals Officer in FDF Army Armoured Brigade, he was appointed in 2002 as an instructor/course leader for Signals Cadets in the Army Signals School. Between 2003 and 2005 he served as a S6 for Finnish-Irish Battlegroup in Multi-National Brigade (Centre) in KFOR Kosovo for 12 months and as a G6 Plans division head in Multi-National Task Force (North) EUFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina for 6 months.
He graduated as a General Staff officer from the FDF Military University and was promoted to Major (OF-3) in 2007. Specialising in Information Technology during his studies, his diploma explored “Architecture and implementation of the Network-centric Communication and Information System for the Army”. Subsequently, he has also been involved in writing several technological papers and articles related to his expertise and leadership in this field.
From 2007, he was responsible for the technical and tactical development and modernization of the Army Tactical CIS system (known as M18) and his work was recognised when awarded the Signals Officer of the year in 2012. Moving to FDF HQ J6 in 2011 as a staff officer, he later became the Chief of Operation in C5 Agency. One of his main duties was organizational change management and change leadership during a period of restructuring of the whole organization. From the Agency, he was appointed as the Commandant of Army Signals School (inside the Army Academy) for two years.
Returning to FDF J6 in 2018 as a Division leader (Enterprise and Joint IT services), he was responsible for the introduction of the first cloud services into the FDF, before being appointed as the Chief Digitalization officer in 2021, when he started the FDF digitalization program and creation of the first FDF Data Concept. Additionally, he was a program manager for the FDF Joint level Cyber and CIS reorganization and transformation project, following which he was appointed as a DACOS J6 (Cyber) in early 2024.
Married to Kristiina, they have three children (Nanna 1998, Neea 2000 and Eemil 2002) and live in Southern Finland (Hameenlinna). His interests include hunting and outdoor pursuits, such as cross-country skiing, cycling, hiking, etc. An enthusiastic home renovator, he is a good Finnish citizen with his own summer cabin with sauna. BG Karsikas joined NCISG on the 23rd August 2024 and was promoted to his current rank 1st of September 2024.