Finnish F/A-18 Hornets and Swedish JAS 39 fighters took off together on 24 September to meet a Russian formation over the Gulf of Finland. It was the first joint operation of its kind for the two air forces.
The Russian group was a mixed one: Tu-134 transport aircraft, MiG-31 fighters and Su-30 fighters. It stayed in international airspace throughout, the Kyiv Independent reported, and the Finnish and Swedish pilots intercepted and identified it.
The Finnish Air Force says the closer cooperation now lets the two countries run joint identification missions and station Quick Reaction Alert fighters at each other’s air bases. “This is what close cooperation looks like in practice,” said General Jonas Wikman, commander of the Swedish Air Force. “Built over years on trust and strong personal relationships, we can now operate seamlessly together, as air forces, as nations and as Allies.”
A busy summer over the Baltic
Russian military aircraft fly around the Baltic regularly. Between 31 August and 6 September alone, NATO fighters were scrambled at least three times against Russian aircraft near the Baltic states. Some of those cases involved Il-20 reconnaissance planes flying without active transponders or filed flight plans, and there was one incursion into Estonian airspace.
Sweden had its own encounter on 12 June, when it scrambled Gripen jets twice in one day against Russian Su-24 and Su-34 strike aircraft flying aggressively close to Swedish airspace.
The joint mission puts into practice the Nordic Air Power cooperation, which includes Norway and Denmark. The aim is a tightly synchronised defensive barrier along NATO’s eastern flank.
Tension across the region has been rising with a surge in Russian hybrid threats, and Baltic governments have accused Moscow of cyberattacks, sabotage and attempts to destabilise public opinion. Suspected sabotage hit Germany’s Leipzig Airport on 5 August. On 15 September a Russian warship fired flares at a Danish military helicopter.
