Finnish Air Force Concludes First NATO Mission Deployment
The Finnish Air Force concluded its first-ever deployment to Romania under NATO’s Air Policing and Air Shielding missions on July 29, successfully conducting its first major contribution to NATO as an alliance member.
Seven of the Finnish Air Force’s F/A-18 Hornets were deployed to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in June with around 90 Finnish Air Force personnel. The Finnish Air Force conducted three personnel rotations across the two-month duration of the deployment to allow more personnel to gain experience working under NATO’s command structure, with a total of around 250 personnel deployed to Romania by the end of the mission.
Major Toni Vanhatalo, commander of the third and final rotation of the Finnish Air Force detachment, said of the deployment:
“The operation was interesting and rewarding. We will take home a lot of lessons learned about participating in a NATO mission and operating in a new environment. Being under the direction of NATO’s command structure required some minor changes in the planning of flight operations, but we adapted well, and also gained some lessons for developing our operations at home. Cooperation with Allies was smooth and continuous training activity improved our capabilities. What was exceptional for us in Romania was the heat. On several days, the temperature exceeded 40°C, which required our personnel to adapt and develop new ways of working, for example in terms of taking breaks more often”
Finnish Hornets operated alongside Royal Air Force Typhoons for the duration of the mission, alternating weeks for quick-reaction alert duties. Outside of quick-reaction alert duties, the deployment trained nearly every day with the RAF Typhoons and aircraft from other NATO allies, including two U.S. Air Force B-52s that visited Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base during a Bomber Task Force mission at the end of July.
The Spanish Air Force is now the new lead of NATO’s Air Policing and Air Shielding missions in Romania, with a detachment of F/A-18 Hornets.