Finland Times

Speaking in parliament, Haglund said the Air Force will manage to cope with this, largely because there are only a few weeks remaining in the year and also because the budget was not too tight.

According to Haglund, in practice, flight hours have mostly been used in operative activities instead of training. The defence minister explained that both the activities entail consumption of fuel and in both instances flight hours accumulate.

According to Haglund, this was after all not so much expensive upon what had been calculated.

Haglund pointed out that the situation next year is still difficult to assess, since a lot will depend on the need for operative surveillance flights, which in practice means Russian activities near the country.

The issue of possible need for additional appropriations was raised last week following Russia’s increased activity in the Baltic Sea.

Furthermore, the number of operative surveillance flights has increased considerably over the year.