Spanish EF-18 fighter jets and an F-35B with tiger stripes operating on roads in Finland

From June 8 to 19, NATO is organizing the Ramstein Flag 26 exercise, with the participation of more than 150 aircraft from allied countries.

The aerial refueling of an Airbus A400M from Spain to F/A-18 fighters from Finland
Spanish GEO police officers in a spectacular video from the Finnish Defence Forces

The exercise is organized into two zones: the South, in which Spain is the host nation (with the Los Llanos Air Base, in Albacete, as the operations center), and the North, with Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as hosts. On May 18, the Finnish Air Force announced that 50 aircraft and 1,300 airmen would be deployed to Finland for this exercise, and that Spain would be present in two locations in that Nordic country: Jyväskylä, headquarters of the Finnish Air Force Academy in Tikkakoski, and Rovaniemi, capital of the northern province of Lapland, whose airport has the peculiarity that the Arctic Circle crosses its runway.

As part of this exercise, on Tuesday the Spanish Air Force announced that EF-18M fighter jets from Wing 12 have been deployed to Jyväskylä and an A330 MRTT tanker aircraft is operating from Rovaniemi, providing support to the fighter jets. One of the capabilities that the allied forces are training in this exercise is dispersed operations, in which Finland and Sweden already have extensive experience. These operations allow aircraft to take off and land from civilian roads, making them more difficult to locate in the event of war.

A Spanish EF-18M fighter jet from Wing 12 operating from regional road 551 between Karttula and Tervo, Finland, during Exercise Ramstein Flag 26 (Photo: Ilmavoimat).

Two years ago, a USAF F-35A became the first F-35 to land on a European highway during an exercise in Finland. Now, that country shares that capability with other allies. This Monday, the Finnish Air Force released this video showing operations on Regional Highway 551 between Karttula and Tervo, where it has one of its auxiliary bases on a straight stretch of road. In the images we can see a Spanish EF-18M fighter from Wing 12, the C.15-69 (12-27).

Ramstein Flag 26 ‒ Tervo highway strip 🛬

During the first week of Ramstein Flag 26, the U.S. Marine Corps & the Polish and Spanish air forces operated fighter jets from a Finnish highway strip for the first time. 🇫🇮🇺🇸🇵🇱🇪🇸#ilmavoimat #RamsteinFlag pic.twitter.com/Fe0lmWWUr4

— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) June 15, 2026

Here we can see two screenshots of the Spanish fighter jet that appears in this video. They are among the very few images of these EF-18Ms during their deployment on that road.

On June 4, the Finnish Air Force released this other video, in which we see Spanish EF-18M fighters. One of them is the single-seat C.15-56 (12-56), and we also see a two-seat EF-18BM, although due to the video's resolution, it is difficult to distinguish its registration. The video also shows F-16 fighters and M-346 training aircraft of the Polish Air Force. In this case, the footage was recorded in Jyväskylä, home of the Finnish Air Force Academy in Tikkakoski, Jyväskylä, where both the Academy and the Headquarters of the Finnish Air Force Commander are located.

Ramstein Flag 26 is the first time Polish and Spanish fighter jets participate in a NATO exercise in Finland. 🇫🇮🇵🇱🇪🇸

🇪🇸 EF-18 Hornet fighter jets & 🇵🇱 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters and M-346 jet trainers operate from Tikkakoski Air Base, Jyväskylä. #ilmavoimat #RamsteinFlag pic.twitter.com/svHbNFLScj

— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) June 4, 2026

Here we can see two screenshots of the Spanish aircraft that appear in this video, all of them belonging to Wing 12, based in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid):

In addition to Spanish and Polish aircraft, another curiosity was seen during the exercise on the Tervo road: an F-35 with a beautiful tiger stripe livery.

Due to the F-35's low-visibility paint schemes, it is unusual to see aircraft of this type with such conspicuous decorations.

In this case it is an F-35B of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 224 (VMFA-224) "Fighting Bengals" of the US Marine Corps, a unit that is based at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina.

This squadron was created on May 1, 1942, during World War II. It initially operated from Naval Air Station Barbers Point in the Hawaiian Islands, fighting in the battles of Guadalcanal and Okinawa. Later, it was also deployed to Vietnam and participated in the Gulf War, as well as missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq, in addition to fighting ISIS.

This squadron already has a certain tradition of decorating its aircraft with tiger stripes, since its emblem includes a Bengal tiger. Above, we can see an F/A-18D Legacy Hornet from this unit in a photo taken in Iwakuni, Japan, on March 9, 2024.

---

Photos: Ilmavoimat / U.S. Marine Corps.