Over the next few weeks, members of the Finnish Air Force are taking part in a routine Nato mission to patrol Iceland's airspace. Finland brought four fighter jets and 50 members of the Air Force at the end of January.
According to the Commander of the Lapland Air Wing, Colonel Saku Joukas, the jets and their crews are prepared for anything — even though the mission is a routine one for Nato.
Allied forces provide surveillance of Iceland's skies, as the Nordic country is the only Nato member not to have a standing army.
The Iceland patrol effort marked the Finnish Air Force's third Nato mission. Previously, the Finnish Hornets were deployed to secure a Nato summit in Lithuania and also used to monitor the airspace of Romania, last summer.
In the skies over Iceland, the Finnish Hornet pilots are taking time for training flights, as they wait for possible orders to arrive.
The orders could involve identifying a foreign aircraft, for example, but so far, that hasn't happened.
The Iceland detail also marks the first Nato mission led by Finland. Although Nato is in charge, the Finnish Air Force is responsible for its own alert chain and combat commands, according to the commander of the Finnish detachment, Major Sampo Kojo.
According to both Joukas and Kojo, Icelanders have praised Finland's expertise in operating in far northern regions. However, weather conditions in Iceland is different to those in Finland, and that can affect flight operations.
The day Yle met with the Finnish Air Force members in Iceland, a powerful storm with 30 m/s wind gusts was expected to arrive soon.
"The Hornets won't be flying any training missions in that kind of weather. It's always a matter of assessing risks," Kojo explained, adding that in non-training scenarios, more risks are taken.
The Air Force is based at the Naval Air Station Keflavik, which is run by the Icelandic Coast Guard. Every year, the air force troops from three to four Nato countries visit the country to carry out the surveillance effort. Before Finland arrived, the UK was there and before that, it was the Czech Republic.
