NATO fighter jets scrambled twice to intercept aircraft over Baltic region

NATO fighter jets conducting air policing missions in the Baltic states scrambled twice last week to identify and escort aircraft violating flight regulations, the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence reported on Monday.

On Wednesday, a Russian-made IL-18 aircraft entered Finnish airspace for approximately two minutes, likely due to adverse weather conditions, according to the ministry. The plane maintained radio contact with regional air traffic control, filed a flight plan, and had its transponder active.

Two days later, on Friday, NATO jets were again deployed to intercept two SU-30 fighter aircraft flying from Russia’s Kaliningrad region in international airspace. Unlike the IL-18, these aircraft had no transponders, no flight plan, and did not maintain radio communication with air traffic control.

The Baltic air policing mission, launched in March 2004 after Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia joined NATO, has since involved rotations of fighter units from Belgium, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the UK, Spain, the US, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, and Italy.