NATO Eurofighter jets have flown to Finland’s Russian border for the first time since the Nordic country joined the alliance, it has been reported.
During a military exercise, three of the aircraft from Germany’s 71st Tactical Squadron landed and took off from the road near the village of Hosio, about 120 miles from Finland’s border with Russia, Bild reported, citing Germany’s air force.
“After refueling, they took off again and returned to Rovaniemi Air Base,” an air force spokesperson told the outlet, referring to the headquarters of Lapland Air Command. Given the proximity to the frontier, Bild journalist Julian Röpke said that it was possible that Russian radars were closely monitoring the exercises.
Also on September 4, two U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, U.K., also landed on a Finnish highway near Hosio during exercise BAANA 2024, The Aviationist reported. The Finnish air force posted video on X, formerly Twitter, showing a stationary aircraft on the road.
The English-language website BulgarianMilitary.com highlighted how landing on a highway was “a new capability” which now put these European fighters “in the same league as the F-35, Gripen, and F/A-18” aircraft.
The publication said that a Eurofighter first landed on a Finnish road on September 4 in Baana and described how it gave a substantial tactical advantage, particularly given that airbases are primary targets during hostilities.
It also meant that aircraft can be placed across many locations over wide areas which would make them more challenging to detect and destroy and adding to chances of air superiority even if main airbases are compromised.
Newsweek has contacted the German Air Force, the Finnish foreign ministry and NATO for comment.
After decades of non-alignment with NATO, Finland angered Moscow when it joined the alliance in 2023 prompted by the regional security concerns posed by Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Helsinki has accused Moscow of deliberately stoking a migrant crisis by sending asylum seekers to the frontier from countries in Africa and the Middle East in a “hybrid warfare” tactic. Russia has denied the claims.
Russia has also been accused of jamming GPS (Global Positioning System) signals that have impacted flight paths in Eastern Europe in particular around the Baltic states.
Amid concern of NATO’s airspace being breached during the war started by Putin, Latvia said that a Russian military drone had flown in from Belarus and crashed on its territory in the municipality of Rezekne. A “Russian military drone crashed in the eastern part of Latvia yesterday,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X on Sunday.
“We are in close contact with our allies,” he added. “The number of such incidents is increasing along the eastern flank of NATO and we must address them collectively.”
