Inspired by Matejs thread
Slovak air-force I decided to make my own thread about my
countrys air-force, the Finnish air-force.
The Finnish air-force was established 6 march 1918, as a result of the 1st world war. because I know that you don't want to read about planes in the
past (at least some of you) I decided not to write it again, but to give you some useful links if you are interested in Finnish (air-force) history.
www.sci.fi...
hkkk.fi...
misc.kitreview.com...
And when it comes to todays equipment, I think that some of you might think that this is interesting
Finnish air-force today
The Finnish air-force today is a quite manuverable and simple force, ready to defend the Finnish territory. Our air-force is mostly made of american
palnes, but we have also used Russian, Swedish and German planes. The Finnish air-forces main job today is to protect the finnish terrotory, and give
support to the ground forces if a war should begin. Our air-force today consists of...
The F/A-18 "Hornet"
The
F/A-18 is our main attackplane, and only "real" fighter type. It is a
fighter variant from the Boeing IDS F/A-18 Hornet. the only real difference is that our variant lacks some capabilities: avionics, target acquisition
and weapon control features, limiting its capability to engage surface targets. However these capabilities should soon be a part of the air-force. Due
the uppgrading. The same variant of our
HN class is the Swiss Hornet.
Finland decided to do buy 63
F/A 18 total in 1992. 7 of them were 2 seated D
models, and the rest 1 seated C models. one rason why "we" chose the Hornet was it's flexible electronics, price and maintainability. The
F/A-18 was the only plane in the competition wich could actually land/ lift from
"non" air-force bases, highways etc. etc. A very useful thing is a war should start, and all bases would be destroyed.
The Finnish air-force has lost one
F/A-18, and one is under repairs.
After the decision to buy the Hornets, the Finnish air-force has decided to upgrade the F/A-18 with ground attacking capabilities, and
AIM-9X missiles
The BAE Hawk
The Finnish BAE Hawks were made in Britan, and then transported here. 50 planes were ordered 1977. In 1990 A decision was made to order seven more
Hawks. These planes are used in training, but can also be used in war situations. Finland has lost seven
Hawks
The Learjet 35 A/S
The Finnish
Learjet is a modified american Learjet plane. it is used for
transportation, and guarding of the Finnish territory. The only difference is teh interior, and the wingtips, also the front mounted camera does not
exist in the orginal version.
Fokker F.27 Mk
The Fokker is a pretty old cargo plane. The Finnish air-force posesses two of these Dutch modelled planes, but they should soon be replaced. Some say
that they willbe repalced by
C-130, or the new Airbus variant
A400M. But the air-force has also tested other planes
C-27J CASA C-235,
G-222
Thread about new transport planes
Redigo L-90 TP (RG)
The [=http://www.ilmavoimat.fi/filebank/2557-redigo.jpg]Redigo[/url] is a Finnish made plane manufactured by "Valmet". ten planes were built, and
they are used for photographing etc etc.
Piper Chieftain (PC)
The
Piper Cheiftain is a well-known plane, that is also modified to the
Finnish air-force. it is also used for photogrphing etc. etc.
Vinka (VN)
Last is the
Vinka. The legendary Finnish plane that is also manufactured by
"Valmet". 30 planes were made, 28 of them are still in use. This plane servers as the first training plane that Finnish pilots touch.
Notice, I didn't put ay information of our choppesr here, because they are under our "land-forces"
There I saved a bit of job...
last but not least our motto... Some of you might look at my signature and wonder "What does that mean?" it means that our Strenght lies in our
quality, from the latin "Qualitias Potentia Nostra"...
here are some of my pictures from an air-show at the military base in "Kauhava"
The "Vinka"
Vinka
The"Redigo"
Redigo
The "Hawk"
Hawk
Hawk_2
The F/A-18 "Hornet"
Hornet_1
Hornet_2
[edit on 5-2-2006 by Figher Master FIN]