Baltic Air Police 2015

With the end of the rotation of the 39th Baltic Air Police and the departure of the Hungarian Gripens to their base in Kekshekemet, 2015 ended - unique in many respects for the NATO mission.

The beginning of last year did not bring a reduction in tension in the international arena. The situation in Ukraine, despite the signed truces, remained practically unchanged, and the Russian Federation became an increasingly decisive party to the conflict (we never said that the soldiers were not there, but they were not directly involved in the conflict). combat) - previously allegedly internal Ukrainian. Under such conditions, the Baltic Air Policing mission was continued in the model known since the spring of 2014, i.e. with four military contingents at three bases in Lithuania, Poland and Estonia. The role of the leading country was taken over by the Italians with four Eurofighters. The place after the Dutch at the 22nd tactical air base in Malbork was taken by the Belgians on F-16 fighters, with an air surveillance and control system - a total of 175 people under the command of flight commander Stuart Smiley. The British made 17 emergency takeoffs, intercepting a total of 40 Russian aircraft. The day of July 24 was especially special, when a pair of Typhoons escorted a formation of ten Russian aircraft (4 Su-34 bombers, 4 MiG-31 fighters, 2 An-26 transport aircraft). In early August, NATO announced in Vilnius that it was halving the number of aircraft involved in the Baltic air patrol mission. This was justified by the decrease in Russian activity in the region, which was confirmed by Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Oleska, who said that there had been no recent airspace violations. He also expressed confidence that the reduction in the number of cars is rational and will not have a negative impact on the security of the region. The result of this statement was the abandonment of one contingent in Siauliai and Amari. In the thirty-ninth shift (started on 1 September), the Hungarians were in the lead with their Gripen C from 59 Wing and Puma Squadron. The Germans in Eurofighters returned to Amari.