Two Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters from the US Air Force (USAF) have completed roadway landings in Finland as a part of NATO drills – the first time any of the USA’s fifth-generation aircraft have done so in Europe.
The two jets were from the USAF’s 48th Fighter Wing, which is permanently assigned to RAF Lakenheath in the UK. Both F-35s landed at a pre-designated roadway near Ranua, Finland on 4 September as part of exercises dubbed Baana 2024.
Finland is the second-newest member to the Euro-Atlantic military alliance, joining the bloc in 2023. Neighbouring Sweden achieved full membership in March of this year.
Both countries had long been non-member partners with NATO, drilling with forces from the mutual defence pact. The two countries, alongside fellow Nordic state Norway, have long been experts at the practise of operating fighter aircraft from remote road strips as an alternative to well-established air bases that are known targets for enemy forces.
“The successful first-ever landing of our fifth-generation F-35 on a highway in Europe is a testament to the growing relationship and close interoperability we have with our Finnish allies,” says General James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa.
“The opportunity to learn from our Finnish counterparts improves our ability to rapidly deploy and employ air power from unconventional locations and reflects the collective readiness and the agility of our forces,” he adds.
While the recent achievement was a first for the USAF, it was not new territory for the F-35 type. Norway completed the inaugural highway landing and launch of an F-35A in 2023.
“This demonstrates our ability to execute a concept of dispersal,” Royal Norwegian Air Force chief Major General Rolf Folland said at the time, calling the accomplishment a milestone “not only for the Norwegian air force, but also for the Nordic countries and for NATO”.
Those drills also took place in Finland, near the town of Tervo.
Such austere landings are more commonplace for the short take-off and vertical landing-capable F-35B, operated by the US Marine Corps, UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and Italian navy.
Other NATO aircraft have logged roadway landings in recent years, including Eurofighter Typhoons from the RAF, RAC MiG-29 fighters from Poland and Washington’s own Fairchild Republic A-10 ground-attack jets, alongside a Lockheed MC-130J multi-role special operations transport.
The USAF is seeking to learn as much as it can from Nordic allies on the subject of distributed air operations, which the Pentagon calls Agile Combat Employment (ACE). Air force planners in Washington see the concept as a potential insurance policy against the proliferation of long-range precision munitions capable of striking forward air bases.
In August, senior USAF leaders conceded they can no longer count on such facilities in East Asia and Europe as ground sanctuaries for combat aircraft, should a conflict ignite.
Washington recently held air combat drills around California designed to test ACE concepts and evaluate the ability of airmen to generate sorties from disaggregated basing locations, while under threat from adversary air fighters and simulated missile strikes.
“As an air force, we are learning that we are all going to be on the front lines,” said Major General Christopher Niemi, commander of the USAF Warfare Center.
