Six Royal Air Force fighter jets have left for Finland and Sweden for joint training exercises.

The Ministry of Defense of Great Britain reported about this, the BBC writes.

Ben Wallace, Secretary of Defence mentioned that the deployment, which came at the request of both nations, underlined the UK’s commitment to strengthening collective defense capabilities.

The aim of the training exercise is to allow the three air forces to strengthen their ability to operate alongside each other.

Two state-of-the-art F-35 jets are among the participating aircraft. They are conducting “high-end warfighting training” alongside four RAF Typhoons, Finnish F-18 Hornets, and Swedish Gripen aircraft, UK defense officials said.

Ben Wallace said Finland and Sweden are “important defense partners” and joining Nato would “make the alliance stronger as we face a renewed threat in Europe”.

“These deployments highlight our determination to enhance that partnership and ensure our forces can work together seamlessly,” he added.

Swedish defense minister Peter Hultqvist said the training would “strengthen our ability to operate together in response to a crisis in our neighborhood”.

In addition, the exercises represent a “practical demonstration” of the mutual security assurance declarations the UK signed with Finland and Sweden in May.

It is also noted that the RAF regularly takes part in air policing missions by Nato members over eastern Europe, patrolling the airspace of Romania and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

As previously reported, on July 5, Sweden and Finland signed a protocol to join NATO. After the signing of the protocol, the process of ratifying the membership of both countries in the North Atlantic Alliance has been launched.