With increasing levels of Russian military activity in the region, Combat Aircraft looks at the current situation regarding Baltic Air Policing as the Polish Air Force leads the NATO mission.
Above: Polish F-16s carry the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper pod, which is ideal for the long-range air-to-air visual identification of targets.
Opposite page:
Two Polish F-16C Block 52+s, armed with live AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X missiles break for the camera.
KEEPING A TIGHT rein on Russian military air activity in the Baltic region is an important part of reassurance amid tense relations in this potential European flashpoint. Since 2004, NATO has provided Baltic Air Policing (BAP), calling upon partner nations to shoulder their share of this burden, which is essentially a pure quick reaction alert (QRA) tasking. Between 2004 and 2014 this fell exclusively to units that were deployed to Šiauliai air base in Lithuania. However, as Russian activity increased, including its actions in Crimea, a second — ‘enhanced’ — detachment was established at Ämari air base in Estonia.
Back in the early days of BAP, deployed squadrons could expect a handful of live ‘alpha’ scrambles during their watch. Contrast that with the current situation,…
