The air force commanders of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said on March 24 that they had signed a letter of intent to create a joint Nordic air defense system aimed at “countering the growing threat from Russia,” transmits Reuters.
The document, according to the agency, was signed last week at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in the presence of NATO Air Force Chief General James Hecker, who also oversees the military. US air force in the region.
Danish Air Force Commander Major General Jan Dam explained that the idea of ​​”integrating the air forces” of the four countries became particularly relevant after the start of the Russian military operation. According to him, the idea is to develop the possibilities of joint actions on the basis of the already proven experience of cooperation within NATO.
“In terms of the scale of the combined air force, our total assets are comparable to the air force of a major European country,” Dam said.
Reuters provides the following data on the air forces of four countries:
Norway – 57 F-16s and 37 F-35s (+15 on order). Sweden – more than 90 Gripens aircraft. Finland has ordered 62 F/A-18 Hornets and 64 F-35s. Denmark has ordered 58 F-16s and 27 F-35s.
“However, it is not known how many of these planes are operational,” the agency said.
The four Nordic countries began discussing closer defense cooperation at a meeting in November 2022 in Sweden.
“We would like to see if we can improve airspace surveillance by sharing radar data from each other’s surveillance systems. We don’t do that now,” Dam concluded.
In mid-February, Finland and Sweden were among the countries that signed an agreement as part of a NATO project to create a joint satellite reconnaissance and surveillance network from space. This project is called Alliance Permanent Surveillance from Space (APSS).
In 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO (the Finnish parliament recently supported the decision to join the Alliance), but their membership has not yet been ratified by Hungary and Turkey. The latter refuses to approve the accession of these two countries to the military bloc until they deliver to Ankara the representatives of organizations recognized by Turkey as terrorists, whom it is looking for. The corresponding memorandum was signed by the parties in June 2022 in Madrid.
Sweden’s defense minister planned to visit Turkey in January 2023, but the Turkish side unilaterally canceled those plans, saying Paul Jonsson’s visit was “neither important nor meaningful”.
