Finland shows Spanish EF-18 fighter jets operating from a road in Karelia

NATO has concluded today the Ramstein Flag 26 exercise, important maneuvers with two very different scenarios.

Spanish EF-18 fighter jets and an F-35B with tiger stripes operating on roads in Finland
The aerial refueling of an Airbus A400M from Spain to F/A-18 fighters from Finland

As we saw here on Wednesday, one of these scenarios in this exercise was Spain and the other was the Nordic countries. The Spanish Air Force was present in both theaters, sending several EF-18 Hornet fighters from Wing 12 and an A330 MRTT tanker aircraft from Wing 45 to Finland. The Spanish fighter jets operated from Jyväskylä, home of the Finnish Air Force Academy in Tikkakoski, and the A330 MRTT was based in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland.

Until yesterday, images of the Spanish fighter jets participating in this exercise have been scarce. This Thursday, the Finnish Air Force published two sets of photos of the Spanish EF-18s (here and here). In four of these photos, we can see at least three of the EF-18 Hornets from Wing 12 that flew to Finland. Above, we see the single-seat EF-18M C.15-56 (12-56), which we already saw on Wednesday in a video published by the Finnish Air Force.

These images were taken during a visit by Spanish fighter jets to the Karelian Air Wing of the Finnish Air Force, which operates its F/A-18C Hornet fighters from Kuopio Airport in Rissala, 322 km northeast of Helsinki and 172 km from the Russian border.Above, we see an F/A-18C from Hävittäjälentolaivue 31 (HävLLv 31), the 31st Fighter Squadron of the Karelian Air Wing, specifically HN-423. Next to the aircraft we see a member of the ground staff from Wing 12, wearing arid woodland camouflage uniform, and a member of the ground staff from HävLLv 31. The Finnish Air Force operates 53 F/A-18Cs and 7 F/A-18Ds, which are divided into two squadrons: the aforementioned HävLLv 31 from Karelia and Hävittäjälentolaivue 11 (HävLLv 11) based in Rovaniemi, Lapland.

The Finnish Air Force has described this as a "Hornet cross-maintenance", noting the following: "Spanish EF-18 Hornet fighters visited the Karelian Air Wing as part of Exercise #RamsteinFlag. Finnish and Spanish Hornet mechanics jointly carried out turn inspections and hot refueling of the aircraft." Above, we see one of the Spanish single-seat EF-18Ms, receiving signals from a ground crew member of HävLLv 31, accompanied by a ground crew member from Wing 12. The Spanish and Finnish Hornets have very similar livery, but in this case, we know it is a The Spanish aircraft is equipped with AIM-2000 IRIS-T air-to-air missiles on its wingtip pylons. Finnish F/A-18C/D aircraft do not use this type of missile.

The fighters from Wing 12 that have flown to Finland include a two-seat EF-18BM model, as we saw on Wednesday. Here we see it taking off from Kuopio. It is the CE.15-12 (12-75).

Here we see another photo of the EF-18BM CE.15-12 (12-75), followed by one of the EF-18M single-seat aircraft. On both aircraft we can see AIM-2000 IRIS-T air-to-air missiles on the starboard wingtip pylon.

Finally, yesterday afternoon the Finnish Air Force published a report on this exercise on its website highlighting that this is the first time Spanish and Polish fighter jets have participated in a NATO exercise in Finland. The report includes this photo of two of the Spanish aircraft during the dispersed operations exercise carried out on Regional Road 551 between Karttula and Tervo, on a stretch that serves as an auxiliary base for the Karelian Air Wing. First we see the single-seat EF-18M C.15-69 (12-27) and behind it a two-seat Hornet, most likely the EF-18BM CE.15-12 (12-75), as Finnish Hornets usually fly with only one external fuel tank on their ventral pylon. We see the C.15-69 armed with two IRIS-T missiles on its wingtip pylons, but with the fuselage air-to-air missile pylons empty.

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Fotos: Ilmavoimat.