Viime kesältä juttua USAF-kenraalin vierailulta suomessa:
The US Air Force’s top general gets a taste of Finnish fighter tactics
By:
Valerie Insinna July 15, 2019
KUOPIO AIR BASE, Finland — On a cool summer morning over the forests of Finland, the U.S. Air Force’s top general flew in the backseat of an F/A-18 Hornet, observing a Finnish pilot conducting an air defense training mission.
The singular experience, which capped off Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein’s first trip to Finland July 14 and 15, highlighted the deepening relationship between the U.S. and Finnish militaries.
U.S. and Finnish officials who spoke to Defense News during the visit could not point to another example of the service’s top general flying in a Finnish fighter. And while such flights aren’t uncommon among the U.S. Air Force and its closest allies, Finland is notably not a part of NATO.
“When I fly with another country, there’s actually a message there of mutual trust and confidence and really an opportunity to highlight the professionalism of their air force,” Goldfein said after his July 15 flight. “From brief, to execution in the air, to the debrief … I could have been at Nellis Air Force Base with any of our F/A-18, F-15, F-35, F-22 pilots, and I couldn’t tell the difference.”
The sortie played like a textbook encounter in a defensive counter-air mission, Goldfein said, commending the “exceptional” quality of the Finnish pilots.
Goldfein’s pilot flew in a two-aircraft formation against four other jets. The fighter was tasked with preventing the enemy from bombing a key target. The experience allowed the U.S. general to see Finnish tactics in action, hear communications across the radio, and observe how the Finnish pilot used radar and data links.
“He is getting a view on how we operate. Now he can see with his own eyes and hear the discussion,” said Col. Juha-Pekka Keranen, deputy chief of staff for Finland’s air force. “That’s the main point.”
Meanwhile, Russia sent a message of its own, sending a heavy bomber, fighter and airborne early warning and control aircraft to points in international airspace nearby Finland.
“Finnish Air Force F/A-18s on #QRA [quick reaction alert] were scrambled on 15 July to identify Russian Tu-160, A-50 and Su-35 aircraft in international airspace above the Gulf of Finland and the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The airspace of Finland was not violated," reads a tweet from the official Finnish Air Force Twitter account.
A spokesman for the Finnish air force told Defense News that Goldfein’s jet was not on quick reaction alert duty, but could not elaborate on which base had scrambled aircraft for the intercept.
In its own tweets, the Russian ministry of defense stated that the Tu-160 bombers had completed a planned seven-hour flight over the Baltic Sea in international airspace on Monday. At certain stages of the route, Russian aircraft were accompanied by Danish air force F-16s, Finnish F/A-18s and Swedish Gripen fighter jets.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/201...eral-gets-a-taste-of-finnish-fighter-tactics/
