Defence, Italy for the ninth time in command of the NATO mission in the Baltic: the objective of the operation
Seventeen allies have so far deployed their fighter jets as part of the mission
by Andrea Carli
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Italy has taken over command of the NATO mission in the Baltic: the handover between the mixed Spanish-Portuguese contingent and the Italian contingent - made up of the Task Force of the Air Force -, which took place on 30 July at the Šiauliai air base in Lithuania, marked the change of leadership of the Baltic Air Policing" mission, in Lithuania. The handover took place on the same day that the NATO mission of Enhanced Air Policing in Poland ended.
This is the ninth time that our country has taken over the air mission in the Baltic. The operation, launched in April 2004, has seen the participation of 17 allied countries to safeguard the airspace of the Baltic Republics: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Italy is the nation that has contributed the most to Baltic Air Policing, participating nine times since 2015. The Italian Air Force began its four-month air rotation in the Baltic. Four Eurofighter aircraft of the Italian Air Force will take over from the Portuguese and Spanish detachments.
Reinforcing the NATO air policing mission are German Eurofighter jets, which will continue to contribute from Lielvarde, Latvia, along with a deployable control and reporting centre that has been set up in Ämari, Estonia. This unit is integrated into the region's air surveillance and control network.
The NATO mission in the Baltic
.NATO and the allies have been conducting Baltic Air Policing since April 2004 as a regional peacetime air policing arrangement. Capabilities are shared and pooled. Seventeen allies have so far deployed their fighter jets as part of the mission. The engagement continues as outgoing air force detachments hand over responsibility to incoming allies.
The Šiauliai and Ämari bases
.When the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) joined the Atlantic Alliance in 2004, a NATO Air Policing capability was established at the Šiauliai base. In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, a second Air Policing presence was established at Ämari air base in Estonia as part of Nato's assurance measures towards the eastern allies.
