Spain takes over NATO’s Baltic air policing mission from Hungary
NATO has sought to step up presence in Europe in wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine
A Spanish Air Force detachment of four Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets has taken over the NATO Baltic air policing mission during a ceremony at Siauliai Airbase, replacing their Hungarian counterparts after a four month tour of duty.
This is the third time Spain is taking over the rotation, part of NATO efforts to support Baltic nations Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
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Commander of Spanish Detachment in Siauliai, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Antonio Ballesta: “Our main aim here is obviously to contribute to the NATO mandate of protecting the Baltic airspace and there is a small difference between this mission of this year and the previous mission in 2006. The first difference is that we have changed the aircraft, as you know we started the mission in 2006 with a Mirage F1, which is a different aircraft, completely different aircraft and this year of course we have the Eurofighter, which is more powerful and more adequate aircraft for this mission, for this air mission.”
The Spanish Air Force detachment in Lithuania counts roughly 130 soldiers – among them pilots, maintenance and medical personnel, support teams and communications experts all of whom were deployed from their home base in Spain.
The outgoing Hungarian detachment was protecting the Baltic airspace with four JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets and approximately 80 soldiers.
NATO has pushed to increase its presence in eastern Europe and the Baltics in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its on-going support for militants in east Ukraine.
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The Batlic State, with their ethnic-Russian populations, fear they could be the next target of the Kremlin’s aggression.
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