Finland closes a main motorway so fighter jet pilots can practice landings and take-offs

Finland closes one of its main motorways so fighter jet pilots can practice landings and take-offs as it steps up war games amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine invasion

• The Joutsa site has not been used for decades by the Air Force due to highway
• But it took the Air Force a few days to clear roadsides and prepare it for exercise
• They practised landing and 'hot refuelling' a fighter jet with its engines running

Finland has closed one of its main motorways so fighter jets can practice landings and take-offs as it steps up war games amid tensions with Russia over the Ukraine invasion. 

The reserve road base in Joutsa, Central Finland, has not been used for decades due to its importance as the main highway connecting the capital Helsinki to the more northern parts of the country. 

But it took the Air Force just a few days to clear the roadsides and prepare it.

The exercise at the road base in Joutsa involved some 200 staff and Finland's F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets, older Hawk Mk 51 trainer planes and other military aircraft.

Locals gathered on the roadside in Joutsa on Wednesday to follow the drill where pilots practised landing on a 2-kilometre (1.24 mile) stretch of the closed highway.

They watched ground staff rehearsing 'hot refuelling' a fighter jet with its engines running.    

Finland, which is applying for NATO membership amid the war in Ukraine, has a dozen similar reserve runways designed for wartime use around the country.

The reserve road base in Joutsa, Central Finland, has not been used for decades due to its importance as the main highway connecting the capital Helsinki to the more northern parts of the country. But it took the Air Force just a few days to clear the roadsides and prepare the Joutsa site for the exercise. Pictured: One of the jets flying 

Finland, which is applying for NATO membership amid the war in Ukraine, has a dozen similar reserve runways designed for wartime use around the country. The exercise at the road base in Joutsa involved some 200 staff and Finland's F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets, older Hawk Mk 51 trainer planes and other military aircraft. Pictured: One of the air craft 

 People watched ground staff rehearsing 'hot refuelling' a fighter jet with its engines running (pictured is one of the jets)

The head of Finnish Air Force Academy, Colonel Vesa Mantyla, said: 'Mainly I believe all the road bases are in quite good condition so easily taken into the operations in a couple of days.'

In order to protect its fleet, the Finnish Air Force can rapidly disperse all its aircraft across the country and rehearses on the road bases annually. 

Colonel Mantyla said: 'The threat from Russia or the actions from Russia with the cruise missiles and ballistic missiles (in Ukraine) proves that the concept of dispersed operations is right.'

Plane spotters in the area watch the take-offs and landings as the Air Force practise (pictured)

Locals gathered on the roadside in Joutsa on Wednesday to follow the drill where pilots practised landing on a 2-kilometre (1.24 mile) stretch of the closed highway (pictured)

A local pensioner, Veikko Haapala, 79, who was plane spotting, said that he trusted the Finnish defence forces to be able to defend the country, particularly with the help of NATO allies.   

Mr Haapala said: 'I do feel somewhat anxious, given how the world situation has gotten, over how we defend ourselves.'

Meanwhile, another local, Seija Viinikainen, 57, welcomed the exercise amid the Ukraine war turning the situation 'dubious'.

She said: 'Finns too need to be awake and count in even these small countryside runways so that the military is prepared to use them and the conscripts can exercise on them as well.' 

One of the planes involved in the exercise on the tarmac before it takes off (pictured)

Crowds of people gathered to see the exercise unfolding in Finland as the country steps up its war games (pictured)

The head of Finnish Air Force Academy, Colonel Vesa Mantyla, said: 'Mainly I believe all the road bases are in quite good condition so easily taken into the operations in a couple of days'

It comes after Finland closed its borders to Russian tourists after a huge influx of military aged men fled the country following Putin's mobilisation order.  

Passenger traffic on the border is significantly limited, with Russian civilians on tourist visas no longer allowed to enter the Nordic country.