Parliamentary defence committee chair Jussi Niinistö said Tuesday that the first Russian plane flew through Finnish air space for a period of just over three minutes. At the time there was a storm front in the area and the pilot requested permission to leave his assigned route. Niinistö added that the type of aircraft and the nature of the incursion did not pose any threat to Finnish security.
”Nor was any threat likely based on the plane’s actions, so there was no need to scramble any aircraft response in this case,” the Finns Party MP added.
Second plane was also evading stormy weather
The second incursion into Finnish air space occurred in the same area just one hour later, the committee chair revealed. The plane flew through Finnish air space for nearly six minutes, however it did not inform authorities of its intention in advance.
”The pilot made radio contact with local air traffic control only when it had entered Finnish air space and notified that it was skirting a weather front,” Niinistö explained.
Because that incursion was the second in a short period of time the response was more decisive. Officials raised the level of readiness for response jets.
”In this case too, there would not have been time to respond before or during the incursion with a response aircraft that was on the ground,” Niinistö commented.
Recon flight at night for Tupolev 154
Later the same evening an unidentified aircraft approached the Gulf of Finland and at that time authorities decided on pre-emptive action by scrambling a jet from Rissala in northern Savo.
”A jet was sent out for a reconnaissance flight. In order to get close enough to identify the craft it was necessary to use supersonic speed over land,” the committee chair expanded.
The intruding aircraft was later identified as a Tupolev 154, a medium range passenger aircraft. According to Niinistö after the incidents several Russian aircraft were identified flying in international air space over the Gulf of Finland.
”Officials reacted by sending out surveillance flights for some of these aircraft but there were no further violations of our air space,” he concluded.
Niinist's comments followed a hearing into the incidents by the parliamentary defence commtitee. The committee received submissions from air force commander Brigadier General Kim Jäämeri and general staff head of preparedness Brigadier General Markku Myllykangas.
Niinstö also took the opportunity to refute newspaper claims that Finnish Hornet jets weren’t prepared to respond to the air space incursions. The regional daily Savon Sanomat reported last week that Finnish Hornet jets lagged in theri response to the air space violations.