NATO authorizes Baltic fighter jets to shoot down drones and aerial threats
NATO fighter jets can now shoot down aerial targets over the Baltic states (Photo: REUTERS/Lukasz Glowala)
NATO agreed to upgrade the Baltic air policing mission into an air defense, allowing pilots to destroy drones and other threatening objects, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated at the NATO summit in Ankara, Reuters reported on July 8.
"The air policing mission is intended for peacetime, when fighters respond to incidents by escorting them," Nauseda told journalists.
"In this way, we show that we pay attention to incidents. It is a kind of deterrence. But what is happening today is not an absolutely peaceful environment."
NATO fighters now take to the air every time Russian military aircraft fly near the border to escort them — from Kaliningrad Oblast to the Gulf of Finland and further to the borders of Russia's main territory. This year, fighters shot down Ukrainian drones that flew into the territories of Estonia and Latvia for the first time. This was the first instance of opening fire to protect the Alliance.
The updated mission will have "greater flexibility and a faster response to aerial threats," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna reported on the X social media platform.
NATO Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which do not have their own fighter jets, was launched in 2004, immediately after they joined the Alliance.
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