Финские военно-воздушные силы: история и символика

Branch of the Finnish Defence Forces

The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; Flygvapnet) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air Force was founded on 6 March 1918.

The Finnish Air Force, one of the oldest air forces of the world, pre dates the British RAF (founded as an independent entity on 1 April 1918) and the Swedish [[Swedish Air Force (founded on 1 July 1926). The first steps in the history of Finnish aviation involved Russian aircraft. The Russian military had a number of early designs stationed in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which until the Russian Revolution of 1917 formed part of the Russian Empire. Soon after the Finnish declaration of independence of 6 December 1917, the Finnish Civil War of January to May 1918 broke out, in which the Soviets sided with the Reds – the socialist rebels with ties to Lenin's Bolshevik Party. Finland's White Guard, the Whites, managed to seize a few aircraft from the Soviets, but were forced to rely on foreign pilots and aircraft. Sweden refused to send men and materiel, but individual Swedish citizens came to the aid of the Whites. The editor of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Valdemar Langlet, bought a N. A. B. Albatros aircraft from the Nordiska Aviatik A. B. factory with funds gathered by the organization. This aircraft, the first to arrive from Sweden, was flown via Haparanda on 25 February 1918 by Swedish pilot John Allan Hygerth (who on 10 March became the first commander of the Finnish Air Force) and Per Svanbäck. The aircraft made a stop at Kokkola and had to make a forced landing in Jakobstad when its engine broke down. It was later given the Finnish Air Force designation F.2 ("F" coming from the Swedish word "Flygmaskin", meaning "aircraft").

Swedish count Eric von Rosen gave the Finnish White government its second aircraft, a Thulin Typ D. Von Rosen, later one of the founding members of the Nationalsocialistiska Blocket ("National Socialist Bloc"), a Swedish National Socialist political party, and brother in law to Hermann Goering, had painted his personal good luck charm on the Thulin Type D aircraft. This logo – a blue swastika, the ancient symbol of the sun and of good luck, which was back then still used with non political connotations – gave rise to the insignia of the Finnish Air Force. The white circular background originated when the Finns painted over the advertisement from the Thulin air academy. The swastika was officially taken into use after an order by Commander in Chief C. G. E. Mannerheim on 18 March 1918. The FAF changed its aircraft insignia, which resembled the swastika of the Third Reich, after 1944 due to an Allied Control Commission decree, which prohibited fascist organizations.

The von Rosen aircraft received the designation F.1. which proved a much more effective formation than the Vic formation that many other militaries continued to use in 1939. To prevent their aircraft from being destroyed on the ground, the Finns distributed their aircraft to many different airfields and hid them in the nearby forests. The Finns constructed many decoys and built shrapnel protection walls for the aircraft. Soviet air raids on Finnish airfields usually caused little or no damage as a result, and often resulted in interception of the attackers by the Finns as the Soviet bombers flew homeward. As the war progressed, the Finns tried desperately to purchase aircraft wherever they could. This policy resulted in a very diverse aircraft inventory, which caused some major logistical problems until the inventory became more standardized. The Finnish Air Force included numerous American, British, Czechoslovakian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Soviet, and Swedish designs. Other countries, like South Africa and Denmark, sent aircraft to assist in the Finnish war effort. Many of these purchases and gifts did not arrive until the end of the hostilities, but would see action later during the Continuation and Lapland wars. To make up for its weaknesses (few and obsolete fighters) the FAF mainly focused on attacking enemy bombers from directions that were disadvantageous to the enemy. Soviet fighters were usually superior in firepower, speed and agility, and Finnish pilots avoided them unless the enemy was in a disadvantageous position. As a result of these tactics, the Finnish Air Force managed to shoot down 218 Soviet aircraft during the Winter War while losing only 47 to enemy fire. Finnish anti aircraft guns also had 314 confirmed downed enemy planes. 30 Soviet planes were captured – these were "kills" that landed more or less intact within Finland and were quickly repaired.

The current Hornet fleet is set to begin being phased out from 2025, and to be completely decommissioned by 2030. The Finnish MoD initiated its Hornet replacement programme in June 2015, and named it the "HX Fighter Program". A working group was created and it identified suitable aircraft. The final decision for choosing the new Air Force jet is based on five key considerations, which are the multi role fighter's military capability, security of supply, industrial cooperation solutions, procurement and life cycle costs, and security and defence policy implications. An extensive questionnaire had been sent out the producers asking what their products can offer Finland in form of capabilities, cost, security of supply and the domestic industry's role, as well as security and defence policy impacts. The goal is to retain the numerical strength of the FAF fighter fleet, which means that the goal is to obtain some 64 aircraft. The MoD has estimated that the programme will cost somewhere between 7–10 billion Euros. In October 2019, the government of Finland stipulated a budget ceiling of for the HX fighter programme. In December 2015 the Finnish MoD sent a letter to Britain, France, Sweden and the US informing them that the fighter project had been launched in the Defence Forces. The request for information concerning the HX Fighter Program was sent in April 2016. Responses were received from all five participants in November 2016. The official Request for Quotation was sent in the spring of 2018. The goal is to start the fighter candidates’ environmental testing in Finland in 2019. The buying decision took place in 2021. On 10 December 2021, it was announced that Lockheed Martin F 35A Lightning II was the winner of the HX program. It was also revealed that neither the Dassault Rafale, JAS 39 Gripen nor the Eurofighter Typhoon had gone through to the final round. The cost for 64 aircraft was , and the initial weapons package and other associated costs (service equipment, reserve and replacement parts, training equipment and other systems and services were ) bringing the package to Additionally are going to be used to upgrade facilities, and are saved for later expenses, such as air to ground weapons, resulting in total expenses of , below the limit of Costs per aircraft frame is
The aircraft are planned to be delivered between 2026 and 2030, and is expected to replace the F/A 18s during the period 2028–2030. The F 35s are intended to be in service until the 2070s. The FAF expects the annual operating costs not to exceed , which are the current operating costs for the F/A 18 fleet. The first weapons package will include AIM 9X Block II+ Sidewinder and AIM 120C 8 AMRAAM missiles, and later on air to ground weaponry will be obtained when they reach sufficient maturity and will match their shelf life with the introduction of the aircraft. The air to ground package might consist of GBU 53/B SDB II bombs, GBU 31 JDAM bombs, JSM and AGM 158B 2 JASSM ER missiles, which all were offered in the deal. The DSCA notification also mentioned BLU 117, BLU 111 and BLU 109 bombs, as well as AGM 154C 1 Joint Stand Off Weapons (although the latter is unlikely as production ended in 2023).