Vesa Mäntylä, 51, joined the Finnish Air Force in 1993 as a conscript, after which he has worked in various positions in Finnish Defence Forces. He worked as a F-18 pilot and as an instructor pilot at the Rissala Air base from 1998 to 2008. From June 2016 to June 2018 his duty was in Finnish Defence Command as chief of operations center. He then studied global security and leadership at the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) in London for a year. From the June 2022 until the end of December 2024 Colonel Mäntylä´s duty was the commandant of the Air Force Academy. The first of January 2025 he started in his current duty as DCOS OPS in the Finnish Air Force HQ. In current role he also supervises development of the Finnish Air Force space capabilities.