Commitment to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission continues as outgoing air force detachments hand over the responsibility to incoming Allies at Šiauliai Air Force Base, Lithuania. Following a formal handover ceremony on July 30, 2024, the Italian Air Force will commence their four-month NATO Baltic Air Policing rotation. Four Italian Air Force Eurofighter aircraft will take on the baton from the Portuguese and Spanish detachments. Augmenting NATO’s Air Policing mission are the German Eurofighter jets, who will continue their contribution out of Lielvarde, Latvia, along with a deployable Control and Reporting Centre that has been set up at Ämari, Estonia. This unit is integrated into the Air Surveillance and Control network in the region.
“We firmly believe that trust must be earned rather than bestowed. Therefore, we are dedicated to achieving excellence demonstrating our unwavering commitment to NATO’s collective defense. Starting from today, you can rely on a cohesive, enthusiastic and skilled team whose deep and resolute commitment reflects a keen awareness of the fragility of the current international framework, and a steadfast confidence in its potential, capability, and determination to excel. However, this is not one-person’s, unit’s, or a country’s effort and that’s why only together we can succeed in demonstrating the strength and unity that defines the NATO Alliance,” said the Italian Task Force Air Commander, Colonel Michele Nasto.
The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defence Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace above the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. NATO and the Allies have been conducting Baltic Air Policing since April 2004 as a regional arrangement of peacetime Air Policing, demonstrating the ability to share and pool existing capabilities. The commitment by Allied Air Forces has protected Allied territory and populations in the region and safeguarded NATO airspace. The mission shows how NATO provides collective security.
Seventeen Allies have so far deployed their fighter jets under the Baltic Air Policing mission, sending a strong message of NATO commitment, cohesion and solidarity.
The Italian Air Force will be flying its ninth NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states, and the sixth of them conducted from Lithuania. The incoming detachment is formed by approx. 200 troops – pilots, technical and medical specialists, support groups, communications specialists, etc. The outgoing Spanish rotation was flying eight F-18 and the Portuguese – four F-16 Fighting Falcons. The entire strength of the mission amounted to approx. 300 military personnel. The Portuguese have finished their seventh deployment on the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states. The Allied military were also engaged in charitable activities in Šiauliai. NATO Allies started rotating in troops and fighter aircraft to safeguard the Baltic airspace when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004.
