Finland to deploy US-made F-35 fighter jets in northeast region to enhance security

Finland will deploy the US-made F-35 fighter jets to its northernmost region, Lapland, to deter the aggression from Russia as it seeks membership in the defensive alliance NATO. Helsinki is expected to receive the first batch of the aircraft in four years’ time, the country’s air force reportedly said in a statement. 

Finland Air Force Brigadier General Juha-Pekka Keränen, in a statement, said that the F-35 fleet will be commissioned first to the Lapland Air Force in Rovaniemi in 2026, according to the state-affiliated Russian outlet RT. The airbase where the fighter jets will be deployed is situated just seven kilometres north of the city of Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, where the famous Santa Claus village is located. This is Finland’s northernmost base that will host the US manufactured fighter jets.

Finland’s defence ministry struck an agreement to procure the fleet of 64 F-35 stealth multirole combat aircraft back in December 2021. US made F-35 multirole jets will replace Helsinki’s ageing F/A-18 Hornets. While the fighter jets will arrive in the NATO favouring nation’s Rovaniemi in the year 2026, the fleet will go operational by 2030. 

Norway, a NATO-allied country already received 34 of 52 F-35 fighter jets from US

On May 17, Finland applied for membership to NATO, and the military bloc's F-35s deployment in northern Europe will enhance the security of the prospective NATO-allied nation. Norway, a NATO-allied country has already received 34 of the 52 F-35 fighter jets from the United States and most of the fleet is stationed at Orlandet airbase in the south, north of the Arctic Circle, at Evenes airbase, deployed under NATO’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) forces. 

US F-15Es scrambled and intercepted Russian fighters operating near Allied air space over the Baltic Sea earlier this month. On Saturday, a Russian spy plane, IL-20 Coot-A (reconnaissance aircraft) was also scrambled by Eurofighters as it was detected by Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in the airspace off the German Baltic Sea island of Ruegen. Moscow’s spy plane breached Swedish and Danish airspace.

Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem (CAOCUE) had also earlier ordered a scramble from the enhanced Air Policing detachment at Amari Air Base, Estonia to respond and investigate Russian Su-35s and two MiG-31s transiting through airspace near the Baltic States.