Four F/A-18 fighter jets from Finland's Lapland Air Wing Fighter Squadron 11 conducted aerial refueling training with Swedish JAS-39 Gripens and a NATO KC-30M Multi-Mission Unit tanker on January 29, 2026, in Swedish airspace, as announced by the Finnish Air Force this morning. The exercise, code-named BISON-11, involved visual tanker operations with the tanker plus three aircraft, according to the Finnish Air Force X post at an unspecified time within the reporting window from 9:16 AM to 11:45 AM UTC on January 30. The Cross Border Training sortie featured coordination between Finnish F/A-18s, Swedish Gripens, and the NATO tanker, the Finnish Air Force stated in the post sourced from https://x.com/FinnishAirForce/status/2017192799179829535. The training used the phrase “BISON-11, VISUAL TANKER PLUS 3” to communicate during the operation, highlighting tactical aerial refueling procedures. The announcement included hashtags #ilmavoimat, #laplsto, and #hävllv11, referencing the Finnish Air Force, Lapland Air Wing, and Fighter Squadron 11. No connection exists to Sweden's earlier meeting between Foreign Minister Maria Stenergard and Ukrainian combat medics announced this morning by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
