F-18 Takes Off a Road...

[TheSkyHornet]

That would be an F/A-18.

not necessarily.

The F/A-18 designation is US.  The RCAF flys CF-18s.

Interesting! What variant(s) does the Finnish Air Force use?

Finland flies the F/A-18C

And if you check out their Air Force Command HQ insignia, you may notice something in particular about the design...
(Google it)

[Flying Pig]

That bears a striking resemblance to the Nazi Luftwaffe wings? 

[LSThiker]

Before someone jumps on the Finnish Swastika in that flag:

http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/honorable_swastika/

[kirbahashi]

Back to the OP, before we go down the swastika highway, take a look at the link.  It is Suwon AB in South Korea.  Just to the right of the pin drop and a little above, you'll see the bridge over a stream.  That is the taxiway.  You can follow it to Route 1.  Where it gets nice and wide just for aircraft.  Pretty interesting if you ask me.  Korea has them in several spots.  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Suwon+Air+Base/@37.2359057,127.0177588,3161m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x357b43b98c16205d:0xac926604ca3a7c5b

[NIN]

I was on the bus from Pyontaek to Seoul one day when we got shunted off the Seoul-Pusan expressway for flight ops at the Osan highway strip. Alongside the road was a triangle of billboards in the middle of the rice paddy. Flying over you could see it hid the control tower....

[Spam]

That would be an F/A-18.

not necessarily.

The F/A-18 designation is US.  The RCAF flys CF-18s.

When originally ordered in the mid 90s, (and as co produced with McAir - search on "Patria", formerly Valmet) their  were reportedly designated F-18 only (no "A") and were advertised as air defense variants. For reasons why, you may research the post-WW2 history of Russia's demands on Finnish military structures and equipment, in terms of both quality and quantity.  (Interestingly, since you mention CF-18s, one of the early Finnish Hornets seems to have been rebuilt with a two seat front end from a stricken CF-18, into a D model configuration).

However, these days the Finns are engaged in a significant MLU2 (Midlife Update 2) package which adds not just advanced AAMs, cockpit displays, and structural mods but also air to surface weapons as well, and official Finnish AF sites refer to the aircraft as F/A-18s. See, for example, the English language http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/wcm/a5d5320043153473a8beea796152065b/konetyyppifactsheet+HN+MLU2+%2528nettiversio%2529+EN.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

or the Finnish site http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/portal/puolustusvoimat.fi/!ut/p/c5/vZDZbqpQFIafpQ9w3APIhkusW-ZBBhVuDBjLYSYFRXj6apucnDaR9qJxrcsv__qyfhCC61bROU2iLq2rqAA7EHJ7CXO8rEIkSMjkoWJ5NpacFZQoc-XBf9zSjMWV63BDdBs9QzSZZj_SHEM1akoskuxnFiru0hc8nzCSz_0kfcdtOeSb9BbsILt3s6FRxnx0MthfuvxiuNm6N2iO3bywvByPLe0Hj3aq5zla97owXE9BqBXQZrWmorX0qK48XW-Fn2xfepCYaX7r6canmpjIv_964_DOiBAEICR32yAc8H6xjUmXyT7Q9ci_5g90kV91qSBM43LWH8oZnAl4PkcIY0iQwEFCwDYOckJbJaFKdA7qpsMRFpIQF-3BotrSaAd2_ZLGB6bGmCM8zbLhT1LRQjme-JPdOWaTunFTXNShrMfhOP7l3XIR6pqRGzIj4zGRYNE1gtJ2QbNlLvGmH7Azl1_Xel4Ju_3hBVWMLNpGXqlkyYu-vUpPGjDlujyCpvR9_9xQRx53__YoPr0B__1fxw!!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?pcid=d39aba004c2dccef89b1fdea2c89db53


That latter site has a nice pic of their jet getting a combat turn on a road, with a caption stating, in part, "In times of crisis machines can be distributed for road bases and aerodromes".  The MLU2 update doesn't turn one of these jets into a Rhino, but it sure does expand their capabilities.


The designations countries give their aircraft often reflects their political realities, as much as the capabilities of the jets. We had a big discussion on this when working on the proposal for Raptors for the Japanese (who are constitutionally limited since the end of WW2 to defensive capabilities).


V/R,
Spam