The Finnish government, together with other allies, may consider providing Ukraine with F/A-18 Hornet fighters.

The Prime Minister of the country, Sanna Marin, said that such a discussion could be raised in Finland, especially since the country was buying the newest fighter jets to replace the current ones.

“I think we could discuss the Hornet fighters – whether it would be possible to offer them to Ukraine, what preparation is needed for this,” the Prime Minister said.

She emphasized that so far all talks about fighters were at the initial stage. And in that matter, extensive cooperation between Western allies would be needed.

At present, the Finnish Air Force has 62 F/A-18 Hornet fighters in service.

Finland has ordered 64 state-of-the-art F-35 fighters from the US to replace the old fighters, and they should be delivered by 2026.

Decommissioning of the obsolete F/A-18 Hornet has been planned to begin in 2025.

The first F-35 fighters will enter service with the Finnish Air Force in 2025 given the personnel training in the United States.

In general, it is planned to replace the Hornet fleet with the F-35 from 2028 to 2030.

For safe and convenient supply, the infrastructure of aircraft maintenance is to be created on the basis of Finland and national companies.

Finland will also participate in the production of a number of components for the F-35 and will join a multinational maintenance network.

The key projects will be the production of the front part of the F-35 fuselage in Finland, as well as the final assembly of the engines.