VIDEO ⟩ After a 41-Year Break, the Dutch Air Force Practiced 'Highway Operations' in Finland

They remove light poles and traffic signs from the highway and replace guided cars with fighter jets, whose mission is to land on the road and then take off again as quickly as possible. Although the exercise series was officially named Baana only a few years ago, the Finns have been practicing essentially the same thing since the 1960s.

This year's Baana 25 exercise is led by Lieutenant Colonel Sami Nenonen, who recalls his childhood: "My father lives far up north in Sodankylä. I had my first experience of an Air Force dispersal drill when I was ten years old—we were visiting my grandfather, and a fighter jet—a Draken—was taxiing down the northern end of Highway E75.

"We’re very proud of what we do," says Nenonen. Landing on highways is part of a mobile combat concept that involves changing landing locations to confuse the enemy and operating aircraft from places other than airbases.

"We move around a lot so we don’t have all our eggs in one basket," Nenonen explains. "We have smaller maintenance teams stationed around the base, which gives us operational redundancy." At the same time, electronic warfare systems and decoy equipment are also put into action.

"Centralized command, decentralized operations. Dispersal and mobility—don’t be where the enemy thinks you are. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, move frequently, move within the base, switch bases. Active and passive air defense measures, camouflage, deception, etc.," Nenonen summarizes.

Baana also serves as a final exercise for Air Force conscripts who return to civilian life in June. It’s their opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learned during their year of service. While one doesn’t learn to fly a fighter jet in that time, completing conscription in the flying division is a prerequisite for applying to the Air Force Academy, where Finland’s military pilots are trained.

Nenonen emphasizes that the most important aspect of Baana is the involvement of conscripts and reservists. "This exercise involves about 2,000 participants—400 active-duty personnel, 650 reservists, and 900 conscripts," he says.

The Finns hold a second similar exercise in the winter, in November–December, centered around the Rissala Air Base, next to the Kuopio civilian airport.

"We have to do this 365 days a year, in all weather conditions—even on icy roads and in the dark," stresses Finnish Air Force Colonel Tomi Böhm.

This week, a roughly ten-kilometer stretch of Finland’s E75 highway—starting from Utsjoki in Lapland and ending in Helsinki—has been closed near Jyväskylä for the exercises.

The section where fighter jets land is located next to both the Jyväskylä civilian airport and the Tikkakoski Air Base. The latter is home to the Finnish Air Force headquarters and academy.

In addition to the closed stretch of highway, the use of binoculars and telescopes is prohibited within a 20-kilometer radius of the Jyväskylä-Tikkakoski airfield. The reason: lasers used during the exercise, which—under unfortunate circumstances—could damage the eyes of anyone observing the aircraft through optical devices. Drone flying is also banned.

This particular section of highway has been used by the Finnish Air Force for the past five years. "People have gotten somewhat used to it," says Nenonen. "The Air Force does its work, and it’s important work—so far, there haven’t been any complaints, and I hope there won’t be any in the future either."

Although official information about Baana emphasizes that the exercise is not a public event, cars and curious spectators can still be seen parked on hillsides and roadsides near Tikkakoski—places that offer a better view of the aircraft.

One of the best vantage points appears to be the road bridge over the E75 that leads from Jyväskylä to the airport. While daily traffic continues across the bridge, it’s also the spot where fighter jets dive sharply downward to make brief contact with the highway before climbing steeply back into the sky—Finnish Air Force F-18s and Hawks (used only for training) doing so more gently and quietly, and visiting Dutch F-35s with sharper dives, ear-shattering noise, and trails of smoke. The complexity of the maneuver is illustrated by the fact that sometimes the aircraft doesn’t even manage to touch the road before climbing again.

When asked whether such exercises have become more frequent in response to Russia’s increasing aggression, the Finns don’t so much as flinch. Their response: they’ve been conducting these drills consistently all along.

However, Baana is a unique event for the Dutch Royal Air Force pilots invited to take part. The last time the Netherlands practiced highway landings was back in 1984.

Commodore Marcel van Egmond, who led the Dutch Air Force contingent in Finland, spoke candidly to reporters in Tikkakoski: "As you know, the global situation has deteriorated. We have left behind the era of peace and prosperity, when we trained for optional wars and generally did not feel the threat that Finns have lived with for decades."

"Given our new reality—where necessary wars are replacing optional ones—we are facing a growing threat and must prepare ourselves for a more dangerous environment, even in our own homeland, which is far from the [Russian] border," Egmond continued. "So, in addition to boosting civilian resilience, increasing defense budgets, and strengthening military capabilities, we must also work on our techniques and procedures."

Egmond recalled that his first time training with the Finns was in 2005, when he came to fly F-16s for two weeks at the Pirkkala Air Base.

After the opening day of the exercise, Egmond spoke with four pilots who had landed on a highway for the first time. According to him, they found it to be an excellent experience. "The F-35 is easy to fly, but what made it challenging was the different environment—compared to approaching a runway, you see different visual cues, and the approach is also a bit steeper," he noted.

"Secondly, the aircraft has an automatic landing system, but in these conditions, you can’t use it—so sometimes everything has to be done manually," Egmond explained. "They had practiced it in a simulator and knew what to expect, but even so, it was difficult."

According to the Dutch commander, one factor that proved somewhat distracting for the pilots was the traffic lights visible from a distance. "They’re far away, but when you’re in a fighter jet moving at high speed, they appear in your peripheral vision. The pilots really noticed that and thought it was valuable to get that kind of experience," he said.

"I’m not saying it was easy, but as the saying goes: any landing you can walk away from is a good landing," Egmond added with a touch of dark humor.

Colonel Böhm remarked after Tuesday’s drill that from the pilots’ flying style, it was clear this was their first time doing it. That’s why their highway touches were very gentle, and the surrounding maneuvers cautious.

Regarding the Dutch, Böhm noted that it was obvious they were experienced and very bold pilots—flying in ways that the Finns would typically avoid out of caution.

One Dutch pilot later admitted in an interview with a journalist from back home that it was indeed a difficult exercise. The steep descents and climbs, he said, were simply necessary because the F-35 can’t really do it any other way.

Finnish pilots will get their first chance to experience what it feels like to fly the absolute top of current fighter technology—the F-35—later this year. The first stealth fighters destined for Finland will roll out of the Fort Worth, Texas, factory in September. After a formal ceremony, Finnish pilots will begin their flight training with them in the U.S. The aircraft will arrive at Rovaniemi Air Base—Finland’s first to transition to the F-35—at the end of next year.