Online flight tracking websites captured the plane departing from the RAF Mildenhall in the UK on Thursday 23 March. The plane then flew east over the English Channel, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland, before turning north.

From there, it headed towards Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, before crossing the Gulf of Finland and entering Finnish airspace. Afterwards, she made a series of orbits, particularly in the extreme southeast of the country in front of the important port of St. Petersburg and Lake Ladoga, in Russia, before returning to base.

Finnish statement

In a statement on Thursday, the Finnish Defense Forces (Defense forces) explained that this is the first time that a US military aircraft has carried out a routine mission within their airspace in coordination with the Finnish government.

“The Finnish Defense Forces are conducting surveillance flights in Finnish airspace together with key international partners. The first flight will take place in cooperation with the United States on Thursday, March 23, 2023,” the statement reads.

“There have been no changes in the Finnish military security situation or environment in the recent past. Flight operations with international partners enhance common situational awareness and strengthen the national defense“, keep going. »The flights show a mutual commitment to developing defense cooperation«.

spy plane

Sensors aboard Rivet Joints can be used to collect communications conversations, as well as details about air defense radars and their locations. The aircraft usually brings linguists fluent in relevant languages ​​to process signals and analyze them immediately.

Other technicians study on board the data from the radars and any other communication nodes to help build so-called “electronic battle orders” of enemy or potentially hostile capabilities in a given area.

Details about the arrangement of Russian air defenses along the border with Finland are of particular interest to the United States government, as well as to the rest of the NATO authorities. Last year, in fact, it was reported that the Russian military was withdrawing forces from areas facing Finland to reinforce units fighting in Ukraine.