Italian F-35B jets land on Finnish highway as air forces train to fight from roads

Italian F-35B stealth jets have used a Finnish highway as a runway during training for a war in which major airbases could be among the first targets.

The Italian Air Force used the short take-off and vertical landing version of the Lightning II, the F-35 variant designed to operate with less runway than a conventional fast jet.

Exercise Imminent Field 26 also involved Finnish F/A-18 Hornets, Hawk jet trainer and Learjet 35A/S aircraft.

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The exercise ran for five days and has previously been known as Exercise Baana. 

F-35B jet gets the job done

The Italian jets were F-35Bs, the short take-off and vertical landing version of the Lightning II, the variant built for this kind of exercise.

The F-35 comes in three main versions:

:: F-35A – the conventional runway model and the most common variant

:: F-35B – its lift fan and swivelling rear nozzle allow it to slow, hover and land vertically, while its short take-off capability gives pilots more options for takeoff and landing, from roads to temporary strips

:: F-35C – the carrier version, with larger wings, more robust landing gear and a larger internal fuel capacity designed for aircraft carrier operations

The UK has now received the first 48 F-35B aircraft for its Lightning force and will be procuring 12 F-35As, creating a mixed fleet of runway-based and short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft.

Nato's ACE 

A fast jet base concentrates aircraft, fuel, weapons, engineers and command systems in one place, making it an obvious target. 

The training in Finland is part of a wider effort by Nato to spread aircraft and support crews across permanent bases, roads, smaller airfields and temporary sites. 

The approach is known as Agile Combat Employment, or ACE. 

Exercise Imminent Field tests whether combat aircraft can keep operating from unconventional locations when their usual runways are damaged, watched or out of reach.

Finland has trained for road runways for decades

For Finland, road-base flying is a long-established part of national defence planning.

Exercise Imminent Field was previously known as Baana and is the Finnish Air Force's annual dispersed operations exercise. 

Previous editions have brought F-35s onto Finnish roads from various Nato nations. 

Norwegian F-35As took part in 2023, US Air Force F-35As operated from a Finnish highway in 2024, and Dutch F-35As joined the exercise last year.

This year's exercise brought in the Italian F-35B for the first time.