The Karelia Air Wing (, abbr. ''KarLsto''; ) is the peace-time
Finnish Air Force
The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...
unit responsible for the protection of the airspace of Eastern and South-Eastern
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. In spite of its name, the headquarters of the air wing is not located in the Finnish historical province of
Karelia
Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...
, but in historical Savonia (historical province), Savonia and the present-day province of
Northern Savonia
North Savo (or Northern Savonia; ; ) is a Regions of Finland, 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 region and Kallavesi, ...
, 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 tra ...
.
The wing consists of some 20
F-18 Hornets, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
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
The Fouga CM.170 Magister is a 1950s French two-seat jet trainer aircraft that was developed and manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer ''Établissements Fouga & Cie''. Easily recognizable by its V-tail, almost 1,000 have been built in Fr ...
s and
MiG-21
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...
s. The unit flew MiG-21s from 1960 until 1998, when it received its
F-18 Hornets.
In 2023 the English name for Karelia Air Command was changed to Karelia Air Wing along with the two other Air Commands.
Fighter Squadron 31
The
Fighter Squadron 31 is the operational unit of the Karelia Air 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. The wing also operates an F-18 weapons training platform, called WTSAT or "Weapons Tactics and Situational Awareness Trainer".
In November 2018 it was announced that Lt Col
Inka Niskanen would take charge of 31 Squadron as the first female commander of a Finnish fighter squadron, starting in 2019.
Organization
Organization of Karelia Air Wing is:
* Headquarters
* 7th Control and Reporting Centre
* Fighter Squadron 31
* Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
* Communications Flight
* Logistics Flight
* Force Protection Squadron
References
External links
Karelia Air Command
{{Authority control
Military units and formations of the Finnish Air Force
Siilinjärvi