Two Rafales from the French NATO detachment remain on the runway before taking off from the Siauliai base, Lithuania. Their pilots wait for their Dutch comrades from Estonia to complete the interception of Russian bombers with their F-35s.
Established after the Baltic countries joined NATO in 2004, the “sky police” were reinforced in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Russia and are currently operating, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, with three rotating detachments from allied countries, two deployed to Siauliai and one to the Amari base, Estonia.
With fighters flying several times a day and the interception of any suspicious Russian plane, this NATO force protects Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, these former Soviet republics whose painful memory is exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine and who do not have the air means to defend themselves.
On this sunny and windy morning in Siauliai, the French took off almost an hour late. “It was training for us with the Dutch who were on heightened alert. We were sidelined because there was a big Russian “package” arriving from Saint Petersburg, which went along Finland and Estonia and which went to Sweden and then came back,” says the Commander Mathieu, at the head of the French detachment and whose last name cannot be mentioned, as with all soldiers on mission.
Three times more takeoffs on alert
According to Lithuanian Lieutenant Colonel Robertas Tumasonis, number two at the Siauliai base, since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the number of takeoffs on alert has tripled. “The Russians monitor the Baltic Sea region and NATO nations. It’s their daily routine.”
The interceptions occur two or three times a week and remain, according to Commander Mathieu, “professional”, everyone behaves correctly.
Even if Russian planes do not violate international rules, the alert is triggered to verify their type and mission and to be sure that they do not enter the airspace of the Baltic countries. “Our goal is not to go after the other side, but we have a country next door that plays with the limits and has a lot of devices,” explains Captain Thomas, an intelligence officer. French.
Impressive Russian devices
In addition to intelligence flights, the Russians engage in “strategic signaling” with “impressive” aircraft to show that they have capabilities despite the war in Ukraine.
In the NATO camp, we play the game of deterrence with the same methods: this is the first time that the French have deployed Rafales, more efficient than the Mirage 2000s from Dassault previously used. The Dutch are equipped with F-35s manufactured by the American Lockheed Martin, fifth generation fighter planes whose equivalent in Europe is still at the design stage to be operational by 2040.
The frequency of the flights is another show of force: in the afternoon, three Rafales take off for an air combat exercise between them. “For young pilots, it was a special exercise, which we don't often train in France,” said Captain Hugo after landing.
Complicated past with Russia
Annexed during the Second World War, resulting in repression and Russification, the Baltic countries, which regained their independence in the early 1990s, have been particularly vigilant since the large-scale Russian attack in Ukraine. These memories mean that “for many Lithuanians, NATO is the first or second priority these days”, underlines Lieutenant-Colonel Robertas Tumasonis.
“The Russians remain present and will probably continue to attempt destabilizing actions, hybrid actions to try to weaken transatlantic solidarity,” declared to theAFP Jean-Christophe Noël, associate researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri). This former fighter pilot emphasizes that, even if losses in the air “are substantial” for the Russians since the invasion of Ukraine, they are less heavy than on the ground.
For him, the sky police “is a good way to show solidarity between the members of the Transatlantic Alliance”. The three Baltic countries “cannot afford a powerful, state-of-the-art air force. But some nevertheless have excellent expertise, such as cyber in Estonia, and can profitably focus on that,” he concludes.
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