Quick decisions in the Northern fighter exercise

“It’s an exercise with a long tradition, and the background is that you meet both the senior pilots but above all the very youngest pilots in the division to do hand-to-hand combat against other types of aircraft,” says Spicer, commander of the 72nd Fighter Division. Aviation section on F7.

The Kurvstrid is an ancient type of close combat aircraft against aircraft in which partly robots but above all autocannon are used. This requires that the pilot be familiar with his own aircraft, but also have good knowledge of the opponent. With different types of fighter jets, it becomes more varied and more challenging.

– It is important to be able to make quick decisions, to reconsider decisions and to take advantage of one’s advantages and disadvantages of one’s opponent, says Spicer.

In addition to the pilots and fighter jets, there were also flight maintenance personnel from the F-7 on site.

– Our task was to explain to the pilots the plan for taking the planes into the air. We also took the opportunity to test a little bit about how much equipment we would need to bring with us to this base, to prepare for future exercises, says Mathias, the flight engineer.

Practicing in the Nordic context with Finland and Norway is something F 7 staff are used to and this means that knowledge becomes deeper about the similarities and differences in working methods.

Mathias says: – To see another rule, how it works and try to quickly understand other countries’ systems and compare them to ours, that was very interesting.

Meeting Arctic fighters is part of Nordic cooperation, and such exercises bring personnel from different countries closer to each other on a personal level, and it’s important to know each other well, says Spicer.

These pilots are the ones who form the joint defense of the northern region, says Spicer.