North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
January 30, 2015
Enhanced NATO Air Policing Patrols Baltic Airspace
Fighter aircraft from Italy, Poland, Spain and Belgium took over NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission on January 1, 2015 and will continue to patrol the skies over Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia with a total of sixteen aircraft over the next several months. NATO has quadrupled the number of NATO fighter jets monitoring the airspace over the Baltic states since early 2014. This is one of several…measures taken by NATO in response to the security challenges posed by Russia’s recent destabilising actions…in Eastern Europe.
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Preserving the integrity of NATO airspace is a collective task. For member nations not having the full range of Air Defence assets in their own militaries (Albania, Luxembourg, Iceland, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), agreements exist to ensure a single standard of security within NATO’s Area of Responsibility.
The air policing mission above the Baltic States illustrates the ability of the Alliance to share and pool existing capabilities. It started in April 2004 and has been executed continuously ever since. So far, 14 NATO nations have participated in this mission. This is an important confidence building measure to demonstrate the Alliance solidarity and resolve not only to current members, but also to our partners and future potential members. Air Policing has been, and remains, the cornerstone of Alliance solidarity and cohesion.
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Currently the Italian Air Force is leading the Baltic Air Policing mission operating out of Siauliai airbase in Lithuania. It is the first deployment for Italy to the Baltic mission and that makes Italy the first Ally to participate in all NATO’s interim air policing activities conducted over Albania, Slovenia, Iceland and now the three Baltic States.
“We are proud to conduct this important mission,” said the Italian detachment commander, Colonel Marco Bertoli. “The Baltic Air Policing Mission is very exciting because we don’t know what to expect until after we are scrambled. Our mission is to intercept and identify an unknown aircraft and report our findings back to the NATO chain of command through the Combined Air Operation Centre in Uedem (Germany),” he added.
Story by: SHAPE Public Affairs Office.
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