Finnish road transformed into NATO airbase for major exercise

Residents in the small municipality of Tervo, eastern Finland, are navigating near-emergency conditions this week after a stretch of their local road was converted into a NATO forward operating base for fighter jets, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reports.

The unusual measure is part of Ramstein Flag 26, a large-scale multinational air exercise where Finland is demonstrating its road-base capabilities to allied forces. For over a week, a section of regional road 551 has been closed to civilian traffic, with around 200 local residents and cottage owners required to obtain special passes—and in some cases military escorts—to access their properties.

“For example, if your cottage is inside the restricted zone, you’ll need both a pass and an escort to get there,” explained Patrik Lokka, a conscript with the Karelia Air Command, which is overseeing access control. Without approval, entry is denied—even to one’s own land.

The exercise has brought a surge of military activity to Tervo, a rural community of 1,400. Defense force vehicles now patrol the village center, and a makeshift F/A-18 Hornet silhouette, crafted from chicken wire, has been mounted on a traffic divider. Local market vendors Sanna Lappalainen and Markus Markkanen told Yle they welcomed the disruption.

“Bring it on. A small place like this needs some life,” Lappalainen said. Markkanen joked that while the troops likely have their own rations, he’d happily sell them sausages—or perhaps pea soup.

Even Touko Raatikainen, chair of Tervo’s municipal council, had to apply for a pass to reach his home near the exercise zone. He called the online permit system “very handy” and noted no complaints from constituents. “If anything, this will increase defense readiness,” he said. “It certainly won’t hurt it.”

Inside the cordoned area, NATO jets have begun touch-and-go landings on the asphalt runway. Polish F-16s were first to arrive, rolling the length of the road before taking off again. They were quickly followed by US F-35s performing “hot refueling”—topping up fuel without shutting down engines.

Karelia Air Command’s Colonel Tomi Böhm revealed that Finnish planners had prepared for visits from Polish, Spanish, and American units, with capacity to host others on short notice. “In Central Europe, there simply isn’t space for road bases like this,” he said. “For us, it’s business as usual.”