Finland’s first F-35s arrive in Rovaniemi, but Norwegian airspace approval for East Finnmark remains uncertain

"The growing range of missiles, a diversifying and highly advanced weapon selection as well as the aircraft’s jamming systems and stealth capabilities enhance combat effectiveness and enable operations even in highly contested environments," said Major General Timo Herranen, Commander of the Finnish Air Force.

The Commander’s first two F-35s landed at the air base on the Arctic Circle early on Friday evening, following a transatlantic flight that began on 15 September at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, with a stop in the Azores, Portugal.

Finland has ordered 64 F-35s, with the final aircraft scheduled to arrive in 2030. The country will then operate northern Europe’s largest fleet of US-built fifth-generation multi-role fighter jets. Norway already has 52 F-35s, while Denmark has received around half of its order of 43 F-35s.

All together, by 2030, the five countries will have a combined fleet of 262 F-35s.

In Finland, the new fighter jets will replace the current fleet of 55 Boeing F/A-18C and seven F/A-18D Hornet fighters based at Rovaniemi in the north and Kuopio-Rissala in the east-central part of the country.

"We will have a very advanced multi-role fighter that fits Finland’s security environment excellently," the Air Force Commander said.

Earlier this week, the Finnish Air Force announced that it would intensify flight operations with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway. The agreement, known as "Capacity on Call", creates the conditions for the joint use and sharing of F-35 fighters, personnel and weapons systems among the participating air forces.

"This week, a pilot with the Finnish Air Force flew a Norwegian F-35 at Ørland Air Base," said Per Erik Solli, Senior Military Adviser at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), in an interview with the Barents Observer.

Solli explained that the agreement represents a significant step towards improving both the quality and cost-efficiency of F-35 operations and ground-based services at air bases across northern Europe that host the advanced aircraft and weapons systems.

By dispersing aircraft across several locations, the Norwegian Air Force says it can reduce its vulnerability and increase its flexibility.

"Several airfields in Norway have been used to operate F-35s from, and Norwegian F-35s have previously also operated from Vidsel in Sweden. In September 2023, two Norwegian F-35As landed on a road in Tervo, Finland. It was the first time an F-35A had landed on a road," the Norwegian Air Force said in a statement.

Under normal circumstances, the majority of Norway’s F-35s are based at Ørland Air Base in southern Norway. At least two aircraft are stationed at Evenes Air Station inside the Arctic Circle at any given time as part of NATO’s northernmost Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) mission. Within minutes, the pair can be airborne and heading north to intercept Russian military aircraft operating over the Barents and Norwegian Seas.

Per Erik Solli, who was an F-16 pilot and flew missions from northern Norwegian bases such as Bodø and Banak, said the increased cross-border cooperation opens up new opportunities.

Norwegian F-35s based at Evenes can now carry out a mission over the Barents Sea and then land at Rovaniemi, where they can be received by Finnish aircraft technicians, who refuel and inspect the aircraft before they are sent back into the air," Solli said.

But while Norwegian pilots can fly into Finnish airspace, Norway itself maintains its Cold War-era practice of imposing restrictions on allied fighter operations over eastern Finnmark. This is the part of Norwegian sovereign airspace closest to the Russian border.

The self-imposed security and defence restrictions in the Finnmark region have a historical precedent. They are linked to concerns about provoking Moscow, whose main naval nuclear assets are based along the coast of the Kola Peninsula.

Solli believes that the increasing flexibility in the movement of pilots and aircraft created by the new multinational F-35 agreements could challenge Norway’s current regulations governing allied flights east of 28 degrees longitude over Finnmark.

"Allied fighter aircraft flying in the Baltic states and Finland can fly close to the border with Russia. Only Norway has a buffer zone at the border, and it will disappear in the long term to enable a similar system among all NATO states in the north," Per Erik Solli told the Barents Observer.