DefenceTalkOn 5 January 2017, NATO’s Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission entered its 43rd rotation since its beginning in 2004. After four months of leading the mission, France handed over the symbolic key to the Baltic Airspace to the Netherlands at the traditional ceremony held at Šiauliai Air Base. The Royal Netherlands Air Force will now […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-hands-over-lead-in-baltic-air-policing-to-the-netherlands-68769/

DefenceTalkThe United States and Bulgarian air forces will conduct the first ever joint NATO air policing mission in Bulgaria, Sept. 9-16. The air policing mission enables on-demand response capabilities, which serve to mitigate and deter violations and infringements on Bulgarian sovereign airspace. Working alongside the Bulgarian air force are four F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft from […]https://www.defencetalk.com/bulgaria-us-air-forces-commence-joint-air-policing-68151/

DefenceTalkThe US Air Force and the Bulgarian Air Force will jointly conduct air policing to protect Bulgarian airspace starting on 9 September 2016. Two US F-15 fighter jets will join Bulgaria’s MIG-29s for a week on this mission, which is part of NATO’s enhanced air policing measures for eastern Allies. Until now, air policing over […]https://www.defencetalk.com/usaf-to-augment-air-policing-over-bulgaria-68052/

DefenceTalkThe RAF Typhoon detachment deployed to Amari air base in Estonia at NATO’s request on 1 May this year, operating alongside Norwegian aircraft to secure NATO’s airspace over the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania which do not have their own air defence fighters. On 25 August, at the concluding event in a series […]https://www.defencetalk.com/raf-typhoons-return-from-baltic-air-policing-mission-65184/

DefenceTalkA NATO mission policing Baltic airspace amid heightened tensions with Russia has forged a rather exotic alliance to ensure the safety of pilots and their jets. Four birds of prey – three falcons and an eagle – soar over the tarmac near four massive hangars at the Zokniai airforce base in northwest Lithuania. The winged […]https://www.defencetalk.com/birds-of-prey-help-nato-warplanes-police-baltic-air-64026/

DefenceTalkNATO radars detected and tracked one unidentified aircraft flying in the vicinity of Allied airspace in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, 21 October at approximately 9 a.m. CET. Fighter jets from NATO Ally Denmark (F-16) were scrambled, as were Portuguese F-16 aircraft from NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission in order to identify the aircraft and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-air-policing-fighters-intercept-russian-aircraft-over-the-baltic-sea-60842/