Hungarian Gripens took part in 50 live scrambles during the 50th rotation of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission. Lt Col István Toperczer joined them as they patrolled the skies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this summer.
The latest Hungarian participation in the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission began in April, when Magyar Légiero (Hungarian Air Force, HUNAF) Gripens departed the MH 59. Szentgyörgyi Dezso Repülobázis (59th Szentgyörgyi Dezso Air Base) at Kecskemét in Hungary for Šiauliai air base in Lithuania, where they remained for four months. Besides the Gripens, the 50th BAP rotation included Spanish Air Force Hornets at Šiauliai and Royal Air Force Typhoons at Ämari air base in Estonia as augmenting forces (see BAP’s hot summer, November, p30-34).
Since the Baltic states joined NATO in 2004, other member nations have provided fighter assets for air policing – normally for four-month periods – as part of the alliance’s collective defence arrangements. Recently, increased Russian military activity means the airspace over the Baltics has become more complicated. The four HUNAF Gripens in the Baltics maintained quick reaction alert (QRA) in addition to their local air defence mission back home in Hungary, from wher…
