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NATO increases Baltic air coverage substantially

Since the invasion of Crimea, NATO has bolstered the air policing coverage of the Baltic States from four to ten United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing F-15C Eagles up until May 1 when it will again increase it to twelve.

The twelve fighters will be comprised of four Polish MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters from May to August. The United Kingdom (UK) will also send four Eurofighter Typhoons and Denmark will send four Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons according to Reuters news agency.
Image by www.wikipedia.org

The Danish fighters will be based in Amari Airbase in Estonia while the Polish and UK fighters will be based out of Siaulai Airbase in Lithuania.

The USAF has also deployed twelve F-16's to Poland, while France has offered to send four Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters and Boeing E-3F Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) also probably operating out of Poland. An undisclosed number of USAF, F-16's will remain in Romania following a joint exercise. A UK Boeing E-3 AWACS aircraft have been patrolling airspace abutting the Ukrainian border.

Germany has offered six of its Typhoons to bolster Baltic airspace at a later date while the Czech government has offered its Saab Grippen C fighters to defend the airspace of those nations bordering the Ukraine.

Russia of course will mass more of its fighter aircraft along the border as well.
The Ukraine is pulling many/some of its fighters out of mothballs but its military has been left to ruin and are basically Soviet era platforms.

Adu Raudkivi

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