After Finland formally joined NATO on April 4, Washington and Helsinki engaged in negotiations on a defense cooperation agreement that, according to Finnish media reports, would allow the United States to build an extensive military infrastructure in the country to facilitate forward-deployed U.S. F- 35 stealth fighters. The agreement is expected to pave the way for a large-scale deployment of U.S. troops on Finnish soil and simplify access to Finnish facilities, including the storage of pre-positioned weapons and ammunition. Negotiations are not expected to conclude before the fall and likely not before 2024, but are expected to proceed smoothly, with Helsinki seeking greater integration and interoperability with the U.S. military and accommodating a greater U.S. military presence. The negotiations were particularly protracted because of their unprecedented nature, because while Finland sided with the Axis powers during World War II, it maintained a foreign policy of strict neutrality from 1945 onwards throughout the Cold War—meaning Its NATO membership marks a sudden shift.
Finland’s accession to NATO significantly doubled the length of the alliance’s border with Russia, and Russia responded by deploying asymmetric mobile missile assets, such as the Iskander ballistic missile system, to the Russian-Finnish border. The deployment of US F-35s to Finnish territory could be seen by Russia as a major threat and lead to further militarization of the border. Developed under the Joint Strike Fighter program, the F-35 is primarily designed for offensive operations and as such has advanced stealth and electronic warfare capabilities, making it ideal for penetrating advanced air defense networks. Its deep bays are capable of carrying multiple types of munitions, including penetrating munitions to destroy fortified fortifications, as well as the B61 nuclear bomb.About 200 B61s are currently stored at six airfields in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey for use by the U.S. military and its local partners as core sharing agreementThe Finland-based F-35 would be within range of key Russian targets, including Moscow itself, and significantly increase the pressure on Russia’s air defense network, which currently faces the F-35 on its western, northern and eastern borders. The United States is upgrading F-35 deployments not only to Central Europe, but also to East Asia and the Arctic, and deploying to Finland, in line with a broader effort to increase fighter-class presence at all possible borders.
The Finnish Air Force itself ordered 64 F-35As in 2022, with deliveries expected to begin in 2026 and replace the country’s F-18 Hornet fourth-generation fighter jets. The F-35 was selected in a tender for several competing European designs, including the Swedish Gripen and the pan-European Eurofighter, marking the first of several tenders in which the US stealth jet has consistently topped for its unique capabilities latest time. The F-35 is one of only three post-4th generation fighters in the world today, along with the Chinese J-20 and the Russian Su-57, and is therefore the only NATO-compatible stealth fighter in production. Production of its Russian rival, the Su-57, continues to scale up, as the class has been extensively combat-tested in Ukraine, including complex missions such as anti-aircraft suppression and air-to-air combat, making it the most combat-tested in the world to date Fifth generation fighter. However, the Su-57 lacks many of the key technologies seen on the F-35 and J-20, and with only 10 airframes currently in service, it has not been procured in large numbers.
Lacking a meaningful fifth-generation fleet, Russia has instead relied heavily on the air defense capabilities of ground-based anti-air missile systems, such as the S-400, which were developed specifically to engage stealthy targets. It also relies on strike assets such as the Iskander missile system, which is capable of striking key airfields and destroying fighter jets on the ground. The F-35 itself, while promising, is still considered far from ready for high-intensity combat, about 800 performance errors Still, its engine problems in particular mean it has by far the worst 24/7 availability in the USAF. However, if the wide-ranging issues affecting the fighter jet are resolved, its presence on Russia’s borders will be one of the main security challenges facing the Russian military.