Norway now trains fighter pilots in Finland: – Important milestone

Norway needs more F-35 pilots. Now a new, historic choice has been made.

Since the 1980s, all Norwegian fighter pilots have been trained in the US. But now the first Norwegian, of the future F-35 pilots, has received their education in Finland.

The news has been confirmed by the Air Force. The training takes place at the Finnish Air Force School just outside Jyväskÿla.

Major Stian Roen, spokesman for the Air Force, says that the scheme is completely new, and that he calls it an “important milestone”.

Few places of education

By 2025, Norway is to receive 52 fighter aircraft of the F-35 type, which are based in Ørland and Evenes. Then more pilots are needed.

– The supply of fighter aircraft training internationally is lower than the demand at the moment, and that is a challenge for many NATO countries, says the head of the military school of the Air Force, Kristian Lyssand.

Some practical challenges with education in the US led the Air Force to contact Finland, which was too getting the F-35.

He will cooperate closely with Finland in war

The Finnish Air Force School in Tikkakoski, outside Jyväskylä, is home to the 41st fighter squadron and thus three Norwegian fighter students. The fact that Norway chose Finland over other places was because of the quality of education and the fact that Finland is now one of Norway’s most important allies in NATO.

– In a possible war with Russia, we cooperate closely with the Scandinavian countries, including Finland, says Lyssand.

He believes that the cooperation with the Finns is working well. According to Lyssaner, Finnish pilots are equal to the rest of NATO.

The Finns use a different training aircraft than the Americans: the Hawk, a British-made jet.

Writing the military history of aviation

The head of the military school is excited to see how the Norwegian students in Finland do compared to the other Norwegian students in the US when the pilots go to see the F-35 at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona eventually.

The fact that three Norwegians have now received a “Finnish” airman’s list is historic for Finland and Norway:

The Norwegian pilots are the first international student fighter pilots to receive their “wings” in Finland. For Norway, this is the first time that fighter pilots have ever been trained somewhere other than Britain, Canada or the USA.

– There are also other countries that have come to Finland to ask if they have the potential. But for now we are the only international department there, says Lyssand.

Norway does not conduct basic training for fighter pilots on its own soil.

“Sharper” training.

There are cultural differences between education in Finland and the US:

– The US is a large system, very structured and with clear frameworks. This is also true in Finland, but the Finns are a bit more pragmatic when it comes to weather and such. Having Russia as a neighbor will do something to the culture, he says.

He believes that Finnish education has a “sharper” feel:

– We see it in the tactical training that the Finns do during basic education. Among other things, they fly in worse weather, and they fly lower than we do in the US, so we have had a surprise, says Lyssand.

He says Finland doesn’t have a higher crash ratio for that reason, and the Air Force is confident the training is safe. The Norwegian fighter pilot training system in the US and Finland is expected to follow:

– The plan is to send new students to Finland next year, if Finland has the capacity to receive us, says the head of the Armed Forces School.