The Lapland Air Command ( fi, Lapin Lennosto, abbr. ''LapLsto''; sv, Lapplands 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 northern

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 ...

. The headquarters of the air command is located in the present-day province of Lapland, at

Rovaniemi Airport Rovaniemi Airport ( fi, Rovaniemen lentoasema) is the third busiest airport in Finland, located in Rovaniemi, Finland, about north of Rovaniemi city centre. The Arctic Circle crosses the runway closer to its northern end. History The airpor ...

. The Lapland Air Command was founded in 1973, when the Tavastia Air Command was moved to

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

. The unit was officially renamed into the Lapland Air Command in 1974. It was equipped with

Saab Draken The Saab 35 Draken (; 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Sweden, Swedish interceptor aircraft, fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Saab AB, Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Saab AB, SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 ...

fighters. The wing was established due to the increased importance of airspace in Cold War Europe. The Soviet Navy had large installations on the

Kola peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...

, while

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

had a large number of aircraft in northern Norway. Both sides often held large wargames nearby. In the early 2000s, the wing was equipped with

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 ...

fighters, the first were received in January 1999, and operative readiness was obtained in 2000. At the same time, all Drakens were retired. The Wing's main duty is to guard and defend the air space, as well as to support the land forces. The wing trains conscripts for aerial surveillance, and for general service and support for the fighter flights. The

Lapland Air Defence Battalion Lapland Air Defence Regiment ( fi, Lapin Ilmatorjuntarykmentti) is a unit of the Finnish Army located in Rovaniemi. It was founded in 1989 as a brigade-level unit with the name Lapland Air Defence Regiment ( fi, Lapin ilmatorjuntarykmentti). In 20 ...

is also located at the base. The

11th Fighter Squadron An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country calling code (and, fur ...

is the operational unit of the Lapland Air Command.

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

External links

Lapland Air Command
{{Finnish Air Force structure Finnish Air Force Rovaniemi