New NATO member joins first nuclear weapons drill
Finland will take part in a major NATO nuclear weapons exercise next week for the first time since the country joined the military alliance last year, local media reported on Friday.
According to Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, Exercise Steadfast Noon will be launched on October 14 and will last two weeks in the airspace of the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Finland would send fighter jets to the exercise, the report said.
Key.Aero, an aviation news site, reported that the Finnish F/A-18 fighter jets were among the participating units in the exercise. NATO has said the annual exercise, which is long planned, helped to ensure the credibility, effectiveness, and security of its nuclear deterrent.
