Summer Finnish Air Force Fighter Exercises, Finland 2021

[Jake899]

Welcome to this topic, a small selection of pictures from the big Air Force exercises in Finland this summer.
First off is the visit of the USMC to Kuopio. VMFA-115 visited with their legacy Hornet F/A-18's and also a Hercules KC-130 air to air refuelling tanker. These performed two flights a day alongside their Finnish hosts. The Finns also fly the F/A-18, though the Finnish airframes are the very last legacy Hornets off the factory line so are considerably newer. However, they are all due for replacement in the next couple of years with the Marine Corps bringing online their Super Hornet and F-35 fleets, and the results of the Finnish fighter replacement competition expected this year.























Enjoy!

as a note, all photos are uncropped and unedited straight out out of the camera so please excuse any dust spots, etc.

[Jake899]

Second is the biannual Arctic Combat Exercise (ACE)¨
These are joint exercises mounted by the Scandinavian air forces and NATO. Organisation of the event is rotated through Sweden, Finland and Norway, who ran this years iteration.
Finland hosted the German Luftwaffe and the American air refuelling unit of two KC-135 tankers from Andrews alongside the local squadron of F/A18 Hornets.

[Unknown_User]

Smashing photos and thanks for posting.

[Last Visit]

Excellent photos, really good angles and clarity.

[Jake899]

Thanks lads, appreciate it!

[DodgyGeezer]

Very cool