Both the final exercise of the Finnish Air Force’s combat aircraft tactics course and the annual main exercise of the transport and liaison aircraft fleet will take place at the end of August, the Finnish Armed Forces announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The Finnish Air Force will actively conduct two simultaneous live air exercises from 24 to 30 August.

More than 30 aircraft will take part in the final exercise of the fighter tactics course, and Allied transport aircraft will be involved in the annual main exercise of the transport and liaison fleet.

The two exercises will be linked by training missions with both fighter jets and transport aircraft.

The aim of the live air exercise Ilmataktiikka 24 is to train the Air Force’s key personnel in tactically demanding scenarios.

The exercise will take place from August 26 to 30, 2024, and will involve more than 30 aircraft, including 22 F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets and four Hawk jet trainers. In addition, transport and liaison aircraft will participate in interoperability training missions.

“During the live air exercise Ilmataktiikka 24, we will validate the skills of participants in the Air Force’s Combat Tactics Course. Each wave of the exercise will represent a separate training event for which a specific scenario has been created. The desired end stage is that the skills demonstrated in the exercise will enable participants in the Combat Tactics Course to qualify according to their training, for example as a flight commander and master fighter controller. As a qualified flight commander, a pilot can take command of a swarm of four fighter jets,” said exercise leader Colonel Tommi Heikkala, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command Finland.

Personnel and aircraft from all units of the Finnish Air Force will take part in the exercise.

The main operational base for the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets used for air defense will be the Rissala Air Base of the Karelia Air Force Squadron, while the Rovaniemi Air Base of the Lapland Air Force Squadron will host the fighter jets used to simulate the enemy.

The Hawk jet trainers will fly from Oulunsalo, while the transport and liaison aircraft participating in exercise Pristine Flank 24 will operate from Tikkakoski Air Base.

The Satakunta Air Wing will organize the exercise Pristine Flank 24 (formerly known as ATEX) at Tikkakoski Air Base from 24 to 28 August 2024.

The event is the most important exercise of the year for the Air Force’s transport and liaison fleet. This year, in addition to the Finnish Air Force’s C-295M transport aircraft, Pilatus PC-12NG liaison aircraft and Learjet 35A/S jets, the Finnish Army’s NH90 helicopters and the Finnish Border Guard’s Dornier 228 surveillance aircraft will also take part in the exercise.

The MC-130J Commando II of the US Air Force and the TP 84 Hercules of the Swedish Air Force are participating in the exercise as allied transport aircraft.

“The aim of exercise Pristine Flank 24 is to train aircrew in the tactical use of transport aircraft in demanding combined air operations. The simultaneous live air exercise Ilmataktiikka 24 enables joint training missions with fighter jets. Another aim is to train multinational air transport operations with US and Swedish allies,” said exercise leader Lieutenant Colonel Mikko Rautiainen, Commander of the Supporting Air Operations Squadron, Satakunta Air Wing.

The flight operations of the Ilmataktiikka and Pristine Flank exercises will take place in the airspace bordering Rovaniemi, Kuusamo, Joensuu, Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Oulu.

The air activities of exercise Pristine Flank 24 will begin at 9:00 a.m. on August 24 and end no later than 4:00 p.m. on August 28. The air activities of exercise Ilmataktiikka 24 will begin at 8:00 a.m. on August 26 and end no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 30. Training missions will be flown daily between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in both exercises.

The training mission scenarios of the Ilmataktiikka 24 exercise include both low-altitude flights and supersonic flights at an altitude of more than 10 kilometers.

In addition, aircraft will use countermeasures such as flares and chaff during the exercise. Flares can be visible as brief bright points of light in the sky and chaff can cause echoes on weather radar.