NATO fighters scrambled four times to identify Russian aircraft

NATO fighters conducting Baltic air policing missions scrambled four times last week to identify and escort aircraft that had violated flight rules, LRT reported, citing Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defence.

On August 17, NATO fighters identified a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft. On August 18, 20 and 22, they identified three Russian SU-30SM fighter jets.

The aircraft were flying in international airspace. In two cases, they had their transponders switched off; in two others, the transponders were on but the aircraft had no flight plan. The aircraft generally did not maintain radio contact with the Regional Air Traffic Control Centre.

The NATO Baltic air policing mission operates from Lithuania and Estonia.