the air force's f-35 fleet will be first commissioned to the lapland
air force in rovaniemi in 2026 said air force commander brigadier general juha pekka karen
the air base is located in the arctic circle seven kilometers north of robiniemi city center and is
finland's northernmost base with fighter jets last december finland announced it had chosen to
buy 64 f-35s to replace its current fleet of fa-18 hornets the first f-35s will arrive in rovaniemi
in 2026 and all 64 including those based further south in finland will be operational by 2030
with finland's decision to join nato the cross-border strength of the alliance's
f-35 fleet in northern europe will be significant norway which has received 34 of the 52 aircraft
has its main air base in relanded in the south but several aircraft are on what is known as a quick
reaction alert qra for nato at evenings air base north of the arctic circle on thursday this week
two f-35s were flown from avenues to meet with two russian military aircraft over the behrend sea
north of the finmark region the aircraft mig-31 and su-24 did not violate norwegian airspace
if nato were to deploy several f-35s based at trevaniemi in qra the time flying north
to encounter russian military aircraft flying west of the kola peninsula would be shorter than flying
from the avenues air base in norway however as part of norway's assurances policy towards russia
other nato allies have so far not been allowed to use the airspace east of finmark when flying
missions to monitor russian activity flights from rovaniemi to the barren sea for a minute or
two must traverse norwegian airspace most likely norway will continue to facilitate nato's qra in
northern waters while finland will from 2026 guard nato's new 1340-kilometer land border with russia
finland decided to apply for nato membership on may 17th
as a direct consequence of russia's unprovoked brutal military offensive against ukraine
on friday defence minister anti kaikanen announced the decision that finland
would invite partner countries for more military training especially this summer
the main objective of complementary training and exercise activities with close partners
is to strengthen finland's defence capabilities and with the presence of troops to show tangible
support to finland cain said in a statement extra training includes air force and some
will be organized as cross-border operations into neighboring countries such as sweden
and norway complementary activities will enhance finland's capacity to join nato the statement said