Since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, tensions along Europe’s easternmost borders have escalated. In response, NATO has scaled up as a protective organization – its responsibilities have grown from the initial Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission, which started in March 2004, and the Icelandic Air Policing mission which began four years later in May 2008.
The current Baltic Air Policing detachment at Šiauliai, Lithuania, is led by the Belgian Air Component and began on November 30, 2023, having taken the mission on from the Italian Air Force. The Belgians are assisted in the mission by the French Air and Space Force which has deployed four Mirage 2000-5Fs to cover the Enhanced Air Policing (eAP) tasking for the northern region.
Colonel Pierre Gaudillière, a spokesperson for the French joint defence staff and a former French Air Force fast jet pilot, explained: “Here at Šiauliai there is space for both the lead and support nation. The lead nation uses the hangars and squadron building close to the head of the runway while the supporting nation is located halfway along the runway in a complex next to the control tower.”
He continued: “Our Mirage 2000-5F unit [Escadre de Chasse 1/2 ‘Cigognes’] is well prepared to take over this mission from the Italians. The unit is tasked with the same air defence mission at Luxeuil as it will be in Lithuania. The Mirage deployment was supported by an Airbus A330 MRTT Phenix tanker and, during the flight, we also assisted the Finnish Air Force’s air shielding training by refueling their F/A-18 Hornets. This demonstrates just how flexible the units within NATO are.”
The Italian detachment
The outgoing Italian detachment had been led by Colonel Federico Sacco Maino who is also a very experienced Eurofighter F-2000A pilot. The Colonel started his career as an F-104 Starfighter pilot in 2001, moving to the F-16 Fighting Falcon in 2004 and to the Tifone in 2008. He has since become an instructor in 2017 and is now flying the EuroJet EJ200-powered fighter as an air defence specialist. He explained: “The Italian Air Force has taken part in Baltic Air Policing missions since 2015. We are here for our fifth tour and it is the second time since 2021 that we have posted fifth generation fighters to the area, with F-35s based at Malbork currently.”
The Colonel said that this tour was a busy deployment as the Italians were the only nation at Siauliai between August 3, 2023 and November 30, and therefore the only unit executing both BAP and eAP missions.
Maino continued: “We have had to take care of the entire mission for 120 days as a single nation. That is pretty a busy job – we brought just four aircraft and fewer than ten pilots from Italy as planned, and we stayed hot for 120 days executing a lot of activities. The overall aim for Italy’s participation in BAP missions is to acquire a common security model for NATO airspace and our main objective here is to maintain a full air policing capability while deployed to Lithuania.”
The Colonel highlights just how intense a tasking the Italians have had as the only active task force on duty at Šiauliai, stating: “This is probably the biggest number of intercepts that I know of at this place”. In total the four-ship had 35 Alpha Scrambles and intercepted 60 Russian aircraft during their 120-day deployment, while the eight Spanish EF-2000s at Ämari had 22 Alpha Scrambles during the same period.
The Belgian detachment
It was a quartet of Belgian F-16s which, almost 20 years ago, started the seamless sequence of allied fighter deployments that have ensured the territorial integrity of the Baltic Allied airspace.
Just hours after the accession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to NATO, Belgian F-16s arrived at Šiauliai Air Base on March 30, 2004 to begin the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission safeguarding the region’s airspace. Now two decades on, the Belgians are returning for their 12th mission. A detachment from Florennes-based 350 Squadron led by Cdr Petitjean Renaud was handed control as the lead nation from the Italians. The F-2000As have been replaced like-for-like with Vipers, while five pilots and 75 members of ground crew, engineers, mission planners and safety personnel are supporting the posting. This will change for the latter half of the Belgian Air Component’s presence in Lithuania, according to Renaud: “The detachment of 350 Sqn from Florennes will do the first two months. After that a detachment from Kleine-Brogel Air Base will conduct the last two months.”
Renaud continued, detailing the work up for the BAP tasking: “Our pilots from 350 Sqn attended the Dutch exercise Frisian Flag. It’s important to participate in such big exercises because we need to practice our tactics on a large scale. Collaborating with other air forces such as France or Poland for example has therefore become easier for our pilots.”
The French detachment
The French Air and Space Force has been a regular contributor to the rotating BAP and eAP missions since their inception and is currently conducting its 11th turn of quick reaction alert (QRA) duty in Lithuania, beginning on November 30, 2023. The current French rotation is succeeding the Italian detachment and will stay for a period of four months on the eAP tasking. The almost 100-strong detachment at Siauliai is led by Lieutenant-Colonel Georges Abihanna, a very experienced Mirage 2000-5F pilot and commander of Luxeuil-based EC 1/2. As with the Belgian mission, pilots will return to France after two months, with a second wave of pilots – also drawn from EC 1/2 ‘Cigognes’ – relieving them.
NATO’s AEW&C Force, based at Geilenkirchen, Germany, will supplement the joint Belgian-French deployment by continuing to operate two Boeing E-3As from Šiauliai. The pair arrived in September, conducting missions to monitor Russian military activity close to the alliance’s border.
Acting NATO Spokesperson, Dylan White, commented: “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has increased our focus on the security environment in the Baltic Sea region. Our AWACS can detect aircraft and missiles hundreds of kilometers away, making them a key early warning capability for NATO. I thank Lithuania for hosting the aircraft as this is an important contribution to our shared security.”
