North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Air Command
November 7, 2014
NATO Alliance Continues 24/7 Baltic Air Policing Rotation
Since this September, Portugal has been the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) lead nation with four F-16’s at Šiauliai airbase, Lithuania. The Royal Canadian Air Force have four CF-188 there as well to further augment the NATO mission. In addition, Germany and the Netherlands have augmented the mission flying Eurofighters out of Ämari, Estonia, and F-16’s out of Malbork, Poland, respectively.
In April 2014 the North Atlantic Council (NAC) invited Allies to contribute to an enhanced Air Policing posture on the eastern border of the Alliance. This is the second rotation of the enhanced BAP mission.
“The Portuguese Air Force is honoured to participate in the NATO Baltic Air Policing (BAP) for the second time,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Carlos Lourenço, Commander of the Portuguese Air Force detachment at Šiauliai. “This collective effort is a good example to demonstrate the alliance commitment in the harmony and security of Europe. It has been a truly genuine pleasure to work and share experiences in the BAP mission with other allied countries, having in mind that through training and working together we will be able to reach interoperability and communality and sustain our combat capability; there is no other way of making it effectively than side-by-side,” he said.
When an unknown aircraft approaches NATO airspace NATO launches fighter jets to intercept, identify and escort the aircraft. Since September, during the first half of this BAP rotation, the four NATO allies conducting the BAP mission, have executed almost 30 such Alpha scrambles.
“NATO has been improving our standing air policing mission for over a decade and we intend to continue advancing our ability to safeguard NATO airspace,” said General Frank Gorenc, Commander of Allied Air Command, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. “Today’s Baltic Air Policing mission requires both high readiness and interoperability. AIRCOM together with Allied nations, the CAOC at Uedem, Germany, and the CRC at Karmelava, Lithuania, have once again proven that our NATO interceptors are able to rapidly execute their mission on a 24/7 basis.”
The four nations currently conducting BAP will be relieved by other Allies in early 2014. Italian Eurofighters will replace the Portuguese F-16s in their BAP lead role at Šiauliai. Augmenting nations Poland and Spain will deploy MiG-29s and Eurofighters to Šiauliai, Lithuania, and Ämari, Estonia, respectively.
Story by HQ AIRCOM Public Affairs Office.
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