The Karelia Air Command ( fi, Karjalan lennosto, abbr. ''KarLsto''; sv, Karelens flygflottilj) is the peace-time

Finnish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = 159 , equipment_label ...

unit responsible for the protection of the airspace of Eastern and South-Eastern

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In spite of its name, the headquarters of the air command is not located in the Finnish historical province of Karelia, but in historical Savonia and the present-day province of

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; fi, Pohjois-Savo; sv, Norra Savolax) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of South Savo, Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia. Kuopio is the largest city in the r ...

, at Kuopio Airport in

Siilinjärvi Siilinjärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in Northern Savonia, north of the city of Kuopio, which largely surrounds Siilinjärvi. Another neighbour municipality with Kuopio is Lapinlahti. The name, in Finnish, apparently transla ...

. The wing consists of some 20

F-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

s, belonging to the No. 31 Sqn and six radar stations. The unit has about 600 personnel, of whom 450 are commissioned officers, NCOs and professional enlisted men and the other 150 are conscripts. The Headquarters no 7 is also located at the air force base. The unit was created in 1918 as the '' Lento-Osasto II''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

it was to encompose the Fighter Squadrons 24, 26 and 28. The unit was moved to Rissala after the wars, and the fighter wing was divided between Flying Regiments 2 and 3. Flying Regiment 2, was later equipped with

Fouga Magister Fouga (also known as Air Fouga) was a French manufacturing company established by Gaston Fouga at Béziers during 1920. Originally specialising in the repair of railway rolling stock, the firm eventually became most noted for the aircraft it p ...

s and

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...

s. The unit flew MiG-21s from 1960 until 1998, when it received its

Fighter Squadron 31

The 31st Fighter Squadron is the operational unit of the Karelian Wing. During Peace-time, its main duty is to guard its assigned air space, and if needed, to prevent unpermitted use of it. In order to be able to do so, it is equipped with some twenty F-18 Hornet fighters and 5 liaison aircraft. The wing also operates an F-18 weapons training platform, called WTSAT or "Weapons Tactics and Situational Awareness Trainer". The unit also operates a number of specialist vehicles, including rescue and refueling vehicles. In November 2018 it was announced that Lt Col

Inka Niskanen Lt Col Inka Niskanen is an officer and fighter pilot in the Finnish Air Force. She is notable as the first woman in Finland to qualify to pilot a fighter jet; the first to command an air force squadron; and the first to reach, upon her promot ...

would take charge of 31 Squadron as the first female commander of a Finnish fighter squadron, starting in 2019.

Organization

;Headquarters Flight ;1st Flight: Fighter flight, equipped with F-18C/Ds and also trains mechanics ;2nd Flight: Fighter flight, equipped with F-18C/Ds and trains pilots ;4th Flight: Liaison flight, equipped with

Valmet Vinka The Valmet L-70 ''Vinka'' is a Finnish-designed piston-powered military basic trainer aircraft of the 1970s. A production run of 30 aircraft were built for the Finnish Air Force in the early 1980s, and although the type was not exported, it forme ...

, PA-31-350 Chieftain,

Valmet L-90TP Redigo The Valmet L-90 Redigo is a turboprop-powered military basic trainer aircraft and liaison aircraft, a development of Valmet's earlier training aircraft for the Finnish Air Force. The L-90 was the last military aircraft designed and produced in ...

aircraft Each flight has about 100 personnel, consisting of e.g.: * Pilots * Technical personnel * Rescue personnel (also civilians) * Equipment personnel (also civilians) * Air traffic controllers (also civilians) * Civilians Conscripts are mainly used as help mechanics and as refuelers.

References

External links

Karelia Air Command
{{Finnish Air Force structure Finnish Air Force Siilinjärvi