The nordic countries Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark are planning to operate a joint air defence to counter the rising threat from Russia.
According to reports, air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defence aimed at countering the Russian threat.
In a statement, the commanders said they would be able to operate jointly based on already known ways of operating under NATO. Reuters quoted Danish air force Major General Jan Dam saying, “The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year.”
"Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country," Dam said. Reuters reported Norway has 57 F-16 fighter jets and 37 F-35 fighter jets with 15 more of the latter on order. Finland has 62 F/A-18 Hornet jets and 64 F-35s on order, while Denmark has 58 F-16s and 27 F-35s on order. Sweden has more than 90 Gripens jets.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year. But the process has been held up by Turkey, which along with Hungary has yet to ratify the memberships, the publication reported. The Nordic air force commanders discussed about such a cooperation initially in November.
"We would like to see if we can integrate our airspace surveillance more, so we can use radar data from each other's surveillance systems and use them collectively. We are not doing that today," Dam was quoted saying by Reuters.
