Al Jazeera:
Air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have said they have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defence aimed at countering the rising threat from Russia.
The intention is to be able to operate jointly, based on already known ways of operating under NATO, according to statements on Friday by the four countries’ armed forces.
The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters.
“Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country,” Dam said.
Norway has 57 F-16 fighter jets and 37 F-35 fighter jets with 15 more of the latter on order. Finland has 62 F/A-18 Hornet jets and 64 F-35s on order, while Denmark has 58 F-16s and 27 F-35s on order. Sweden has more than 90 Gripen jets.
It was unclear how many of those planes were operational.
