Finnish Air Force to train in the Kuopio and Joensuu regions at the end of November

Karelia Air Wing will organise the final exercise of the unit training phase (JPH 2/24) of the Finnish Air Force’s conscripts mustering out in December 2024. The exercise will take place at Rissala Air Base and Joensuu airport on 22‒28 November 2024.

The main objective of the exercise will be to train the Finnish Air Force’s conscripts, reservists and active-duty personnel in their war-time tasks. The JPH 2/24 exercise will train the troops in an air wing’s combat operations against an enemy attack. Another objective is to evaluate and verify the skills of the Air Force’s conscripts mustering out to the reserve in December 2024.

The exercise will be led by the Commander of the Karelia Air Wing, Colonel Johan Anttila. The JPH 2/24 exercise will involve personnel from all the wing-level units of the Finnish Air Force, as well as from the Finnish Army and the Finnish Border Guard. The total strength of the exercise troops, including conscripts, reservists and active-duty personnel, will be approximately 1,200 people.

Fighter jets to operate from Rissala Air Base and Joensuu airport

As part of the exercise, the Finnish Air Force’s F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets will operate from Rissala Air Base and Joensuu airport from Monday to Wednesday on 25‒27 November 2024.

• At Joensuu airport, there will be flight operations around the clock from Monday to Wednesday. The flight activity will end on Wednesday morning by 9 am. 
• At Rissala Air Base, there will be flight operations between 9 am and midnight on Monday and Tuesday, and between 9 am and 4 pm on Wednesday. The flight activity will end on Wednesday afternoon by 4 pm.  

The air operations will take place in the airspace bordering on Kuopio, Joensuu, Kajaani, Oulu and Jyväskylä. The fighter jets will deploy countermeasures such as flares and chaff. Flares may be seen as momentary bright spots of light in the sky, and chaff may cause echoes on weather radar.

The Finnish Defence Forces may temporarily close small roads in the Rissala-Jänneniemi-Vaajasalo-Kortejoki-Savulahti-Vartiala-Ryönä-Kotasalmi-Pelonniemi training areas surrounding the Rissala Air Base and in the vicinity of Joensuu airport to avoid exposing civilians to noise from blank ammunition. Residents of the training areas will be able to access their properties throughout the exercise. However, the residents should be prepared to present a valid identification. 

During the exercise, there will be more military personnel and vehicles than usual in the vicinity of Rissala Air Base and the training areas. The troops will move in a motor march to Rissala Air Base on 22‒23 November, and in a dispersed manner to Joensuu airport on Sunday 24 November. Traffic on the return marches will be at its peak on Thursday 28 November. Military vehicles may slow down the traffic, especially on highway 9 and in the vicinity of Rissala Air Base.