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Finland Air Force
Unavailable
Figure 21. Air and Coastal Defense, 1988
The peacetime missions of the air force (Ilmavoimat)
were the
patrolling of Finnish air space and the surveillance,
identification, and interception of intruding aircraft. In
an
average year, ten to twenty violations of Finnish air
space were
detected. If conflict developed in the region, the air
force
would have the tasks of preserving territorial integrity,
preventing overflight of hostile planes and missiles,
preventing
Finnish territory from being used as a base for attack,
and
supporting army and navy operations. The protection of
Finnish
air space in the event of East-West hostilities was
considered a
highly salient aspect of the air force role. The
possibility that
Finnish air space would be violated on the flight paths of
bombers and cruise missiles of NATO and Warsaw Pact forces
was an
issue of intense concern. As of 1988, Finland was in the
process
of acquiring further capability to detect, to intercept,
and to
destroy cruise missiles crossing Finnish territory.
To fulfill these missions, Finland had given priority
in the
late 1970s to the upgrading of its interceptor and
reconnaissance
capabilities. Its three combat air squadrons were equipped
with
Soviet MiG-21bis and Swedish Saab J-35 Draken fighters.
The
forty-seven Hawk Mk-51s purchased from Britain for
advanced
training and reconnaissance were not counted as combat
aircraft
under the limits prescribed by the 1947 peace treaty, but
they
could be fitted with racks for bombs, rockets, and
missiles for
use as light attack aircraft. Air force transport
capability was
limited, consisting primarily of three Dutch F-27 Fokkers
and six
Soviet Mi-8 helicopters (see
table 24, Appendix A).
Air force headquarters was located at Tikkakoski in
central
Finland. The country was divided into three air defense
regions
(see
fig. 21). Each air defense region was the operational
zone
of an air wing, functioning in coordination with the
corresponding military areas. Each of the three command
centers
was individually responsible for its regional air defense,
based
on directives issued by the air staff. One fighter
squadron was
assigned to each wing, but the necessary basing and
support
infrastructure was in place to enable the air force
commander to
concentrate all air force resources in a single region if
necessary.
As of 1988, the Lapland wing, consisting of eighteen
Drakens,
was based at the joint civilian-military airfield near
Rovaniemi;
the wing's headquarters were in a nearby hardened shelter
complex. The Satakunta wing, with twelve Drakens based at
Tampere-Pirkkala, was responsible for southwestern
Finland. All
of the wing's command facilities, workshops, and aircraft
shelters were hardened, having been blasted out of granite
cliffs. Defense of southeastern Finland came under the
Karelian
wing, which had a squadron of thirty MiG-21bis plus
several Hawks
for training and patrol duties, operating from
Kuopio-Rissala.
All three wings had facilities in place permitting the use
of
alternative military and civilian airfields, as well as
prepared
highway strips.
In addition to the three combat squadrons based at wing
headquarters, the transport squadron was based at
Kouvola-Utti
and the training squadron was based at Luonetjarvi,
adjacent to
the flying school at Kauhava. Primary air surveillance was
carried out by a fixed long-range radar system
supplemented by
mobile low-altitude radar, fixed in peacetime, but
transportable
to concealed, hardened sites in wartime. The civilian air
control
network was also closely linked to the military system.
Automatic
long-range radar, ordered in 1988 from the French firm of
Thomson-CSF, will be installed at six or seven sites,
including
one in the far north at Kaamanen that will extend
surveillance
over the Arctic Ocean and the Kola Peninsula.
Flight training was conducted at the Air Force Academy
at
Kauhava. The Valmet L-70 Vinka was used for primary
training
(forty-five hours of flight time). Students then made the
transition to jet training on the Hawk (100 hours of
flight
time), preceded by considerable practice on flight
simulators. An
intermediate trainer was not considered necessary.
Conversion to
the Draken or the MiG-21 and advanced tactical training
were
carried out after assignment to the fighter squadrons. A
fully
qualified interceptor pilot underwent a total of seven
years of
preparation. More pilots were being trained than Finland
needed
for its existing combat aircraft. Moreover, basing and
logistical
facilities were sufficient for about three times as many
combat
aircraft as were in the peacetime inventory.
Data as of December 1988
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