Baltic Air Policing

Gestart door dudge, 06/06/2013 | 11:37 uur

Ros

NAVO gaat de inzet terug schroeven.......tegenactie van de Russen ? Opschalen en zo de NAVO dwingen terug te komen op de beslissing. Scherp houden en zorgen dat er kosten gemaakt moeten worden. Hoe lang is de adem van de NAVO leden ?

Sparkplug

NATO to scale back enhanced Baltic Air Policing Mission

Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly | August 4, 2015

NATO is to halve the number of combat aircraft it is committing to the Baltic Air Policing Mission despite a recent upsurge in interceptions of Russian military aircraft transiting the region, an alliance spokesperson confirmed to IHS Jane's on 4 August.

The current 'enhanced' mission made up of 16 aircraft from four nations is to be reduced to eight aircraft from two nations from September, even though Russian military air activity in the region saw NATO fighters intercept record numbers of aircraft in the closing days of July, chief of media operations Lieutenant Colonel Jay Janzen said.

"NATO will have eight aircraft assigned to the mission as of 1 September, and these aircraft will be based at both Siauliai [Airbase] Base in Lithuania and Amari [Airbase] Base in Estonia. We currently have 16 [aircraft at Siauliai, Amari, and Malbork in Poland], which is well above the military requirement. NATO's military authorities assess that eight aircraft is currently sufficient to protect Baltic airspace. Moreover, this is still double the number before the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis [in early 2014]. Prior to the crisis, the mission normally had four aircraft for each rotation, all based at Siauliai in Lithuania," he said.

According to Lt Col Janzen, Hungary and Germany will provide the first reduced rotation, with Saab Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon jets being based at Siauliai and Amari respectively (while the mission will no longer be flown out of Malbork, that base remains available to NATO). This rotation will last the usual four months, and will run through to the end of December. The colonel declined to say if the eight-aircraft mission will be the new norm, except to say that the alliance continues to assess the political and military situation with regard to Russia and will plan accordingly.

While the headline numbers show a reduction in the mission, Lt Col Janzen was keen to stress that eight aircraft and two nations was always the NATO requirement for the enhanced air policing mission in light of Russia's annexation of Crimea and continued support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine, and that the alliance had been flying double this number only because they were offered by member nations.

Although NATO recently announced that fighters from the current rotation of Belgium, Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom had intercepted some of the largest numbers of Russian fighters seen flying through the Baltic region since the end of the Cold War, Lt Col Janzen insisted that eight alliance fighters are more than enough to deal with the type and scale of the threat currently posed.

NATO has launched more than 250 scrambles against Russian aircraft so far this year over Europe, of which 120 have taken place over the Baltic region. With the alliance having conducted some 400 interceptions over Europe for the whole of 2014, the numbers being flown so far suggest that 2015 will surpass this figure by some margin.

http://www.janes.com/article/53419/nato-to-scale-back-enhanced-baltic-air-policing-mission
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

mandaje

#20
Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 23/04/2015 | 17:33 uur
Zeker, met een back up uit eigen land.

Misschien zijn NAVO leden die deelnemen aan BAP bereid een stukje van de kosten mee te financieren, ze hoeven dan immers zelf niet meer te komen opdraven.

Wellicht is het zelfs handiger om 12  ex USAF F16C/D aan de US te vragen, ik vermoed dat ze deze kostenloos** zullen overdragen (zoals ook maar zo bij Bulgarije zou kunnen gebeuren)

Zijn de Baltische landen alleen verantwoordelijk voor de exploitatie.

** kostenloos lijkt me haast geen probleem immers de Amerikanen kunnen dan voor een appel en een ei:

a: een concrrentje (Saab) pesten en b: Rusland sarren.

In hoeverre zijn er nog NAVO-fondsen voor aankoop van materiaal. Portugal heeft bijvoorbeeld fregatten aangekocht met behulp van NAVO-geld. Zouden de Baltische staten dit ook kunnen doen met gevechtsvliegtuigen?

Als ze van de VS gratis F-16's krijgen dan is dat leuk voor Lockheed, maar ik vraag me af of het erg verstandig is. Onderhoudskosten zullen hoger zijn en de beschikbaarheid zal zeker lager zijn als bij evenveel gripens. En juist in zo'n grensgebied is een erg hoge beschikbaarheid een enorme plus. De Tjechen draaien met 14 gripens QRA's + Air policy missies één keer in de drie jaar en zetten daarmee de Oostenrijkers flink te kakken.

Strategisch gezien kan het voor VS ook erg handig zijn om deze mogelijke bestelling juist aan de Zweden te geven. De Zweden hebben al aangegeven de Baltische staten bij Russische agressie te willen helpen en met een Gripen order zorg je ervoor dat ze weer sneller het conflict in getrokken worden. Dat is cruciaal voor de NAVO, want daarmee wordt de Oostzee sneller een NAVO binnenzee en dat is weer nodig om aanvoerlijnen naar de Baltische staten open te houden.

Sparkplug

Naast Italië blijft ook België.

Norway takes the lead in NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission

April 30, 2015

Norway will assume lead responsibility for NATO's air policing mission over the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Friday (1 May 2015). The United Kingdom will also rejoin the mission while Italy and Belgium will continue their participation. A handover ceremony is taking place on Thursday (30 April 2015) at Šiauliai airbase in Lithuania, where Italy will formally transfer lead responsibility for the mission to Norway.

Allies take up the air patrols for a four-month rotation. Until the end of August, fighter jets from Belgium, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom will be on duty.  Norway will lead the mission from Šiauliai airbase in Lithuania with four F-16 aircraft. They will be joined in Šiauliai by four Italian Euro-fighter aircraft.  Four British Euro-fighter aircraft will be based at Ämari airbase in Estonia while Belgium will provide four F-16 jets based at Malbork airbase in Poland.

NATO has been protecting the Baltic skies since 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the Alliance. The mission helps NATO's Baltic Allies who do not have fighter aircraft of their own guard their airspace. In response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, NATO's air-policing mission was enhanced with additional aircraft last spring.

NATO's Baltic Air Policing aircraft frequently intercept Russian fighters and bombers flying near Baltic States. In 2014, NATO scrambled its planes more than 150 times in response to Russian air activity over the Baltics, four times more than in 2013.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_119113.htm?selectedLocale=en
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

#18
Citaat van: Ace1 op 23/04/2015 | 17:27 uur
De landen die nu toestellen beschikbaar stellen voor de Baltic Air Policing sturen ook maar 6 of 8 toestellen. En meer kunnen de Baltische staten waarschijnlijk niet betalen.

Zeker, met een back up uit eigen land.

Misschien zijn NAVO leden die deelnemen aan BAP bereid een stukje van de kosten mee te financieren, ze hoeven dan immers zelf niet meer te komen opdraven.

Wellicht is het zelfs handiger om 12  ex USAF F16C/D aan de US te vragen, ik vermoed dat ze deze kostenloos** zullen overdragen (zoals ook maar zo bij Bulgarije zou kunnen gebeuren)

Zijn de Baltische landen alleen verantwoordelijk voor de exploitatie.

** kostenloos lijkt me haast geen probleem immers de Amerikanen kunnen dan voor een appel en een ei:

a: een concrrentje (Saab) pesten en b: Rusland sarren.

Ace1

#17
Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 23/04/2015 | 17:19 uur
Leasen?

6 is wel heel magertjes wel je 2  continue basis beschikbaar hebben voor QRA

Misschien is een gezamenlijk squadron van 12 toestellen een meer zinvolle gedachte...

De landen die nu toestellen beschikbaar stellen voor de Baltic Air Policing sturen ook maar 6 of 8 toestellen. En meer kunnen de Baltische staten waarschijnlijk niet betalen.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

#16
Citaat van: Ace1 op 23/04/2015 | 17:11 uur
Ik vraag me af of het voor de Baltische staten geen optie is om van de Zweden 6 Gripens te kopen die daar in depot staan, zodat Estland, Letland en Litouwen ieder 2 toestelen hebben.

Leasen?

6-9 is wel heel magertjes wel je 2  continue basis beschikbaar hebben voor QRA

Misschien is een gezamenlijk squadron van 12 toestellen een meer zinvolle gedachte...

Ace1

#15
Ik vraag me af of het voor de Baltische staten geen optie is om van de Zweden 6 of 9 Gripens te kopen die daar in depot staan, zodat Estland, Letland en Litouwen ieder 2 of 3 toestellen hebben.

Sparkplug

Norway to deploy F-16s for Baltic air policing

By Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly | April 22, 2015

The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) is to send four of its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft to participate in the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission from May, national media said on 23 March.

The F-16AM fighters will deploy from their homebase at Ørland to either Siauliai Airbase in Lithuania or Malbork in Poland, from where they will undertake air policing in partnership with three other nations for four months (besides the Norwegian F-16s, it has also been disclosed that four Eurofighter Typhoons of the UK Royal Air Force will be based at Amari Airbase in Estonia for the mission).

As well as sending its combat aircraft and 70 pilots and support personnel to the region, the RNoAF will also dispatch three liaison officers to the Karmelava military base in Lithuania, according to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

The Baltic Air Policing Mission began in 2004 as a temporary measure to safeguard the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania until they developed their own air defence capabilities. However, in 2012 NATO declared the mission to be permanent.

The mission is currently in its 37th rotation, led by four Italian Air Force Typhoons at Siauliai Airbase; and supported by four Polish MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters at the same location; four Spanish Typhoons at Amari Airbase; and four Belgian Lockheed Martin F-16s at Malbork. To date, 16 NATO nations have taken part in the mission.

The 'enhanced' Baltic Air Policing Mission now being undertaken was stood up in May 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the crisis with Ukraine, and will continue to at least the end of 2015.

http://www.janes.com/article/50899/norway-to-deploy-f-16s-for-baltic-air-policing
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Ros

Zelf opgelegde sanctie.......€ 9 miljoen om 4 toestellen een tijdje rondjes te laten vliegen. Mr. Putin will be amused...... :cute-smile:

Ace1

Spanish Eurofighters eye the Russians at 300 meters

Spain takes over rotating command of NATO's Baltic air-policing mission
Defense Minister: "We're not here to create problems, we're here to avoid them"

About 3,200 kilometers separate the Morón de la Frontera base outside Seville and the Ämari Air Base in Estonia, not to mention around 30 degrees in temperature.

Nevertheless, the Baltic republic's brutal -15ºC weather has not hampered Spanish Eurofighter Typhoons from their duties protecting the region's airspace. Planes from Group 11 of the Spanish Air Force have been in control of NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission (BAPM), based in Ämari, since January 1 and will continue there until May 4.

So far, the Eurofighters have conducted 108 patrols, clocking up nearly 200 hours of flight time. Only one flight had to be canceled because of technical problems.

Eurofighters have conducted 108 patrols, clocking up nearly 200 hours of flight time

"It has been better than we thought," said Lt. Col. Enrique Fernández Ambel, who is heading the team of 115 Spanish officers of the Ambar detachment.

But the fears are real and the tension exists. NATO is concerned that the conflict may spill over from Ukraine, where the Kiev government has been fighting pro-Russian separatists.

Along the icy waters of the Baltic, two old Cold War adversaries can look directly into each others' eyes at distances sometimes as close as 300 meters – that is how near Spanish Eurofighters have come to Russian aircraft during the interceptions that have taken place.

These testy encounters have occurred about half-a-dozen times when Russian Ilyushin and Antonov transport planes – modified for spying or electronic warfare – fly from St Petersburg to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast, which is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland.

Although the Russian jets have not violated Baltic airspace, they ignore international air navigation rules by not filing a flight plan, turning off their transponders so they can't be identified, or refusing to communicate with civil aviation authorities.

The Spanish Eurofighters usually intercept and escort them under the orders of NATO's Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), based in Uedem, Germany.

Commander Eladio Daniel Leal said the tensest moments usually occur when the alarm goes off and "you just don't know who you are going to encounter, or how they are going to react."

NATO has been helping the Baltic nations patrol their airspace since 2004 as none of them has an air force of their own. Member countries take turns leading the mission.

But since the Ukraine crisis, NATO has beefed up its patrols. Besides the Spanish EF-2000s, fighter jets have also been dispatched from Italy, Poland and Belgium.

In a tense war of nerves, any wrong move can turn into a catastrophe. According to NATO figures, more than 400 interceptions of Russian planes by the Alliance's jets occurred last year – more than double the number in 2013.

Although the Russian jets have not violated Baltic airspace, they ignore international air navigation rules

And each day the Kremlin is getting bolder. Last month, two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 bombers ventured as far as the English Channel, setting off an emergency dispatch of British and French jets.

The Norwegian government released a video that showed how an F-16 fighter nearly collided with one of the Russian bombers. But the biggest risk is that of a commercial jet getting entangled in these dangerous standoffs.

"We're not here to create problems, but instead we're here to avoid them," said Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenés, who visited the detachment in Ämari on Wednesday.

The Spanish government is  spending €9 million on having its four Eurofighters take part in the BAPM and hopes to repeat the mission next year.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/02/19/inenglish/1424342029_255173.html

dudge



Citaat van: Facebook Armee FrancaiseLe 27 juin 2013, une patrouille de deux Mirage F1 CR du dispositif français de l'opération Baltic 2013 a identifié puis escorté un aéronef russe.

A 8h54, moins de dix minutes après le retentissement de la sirène d'alerte, deux Mirage F1 CR ont décollé de la base de Šiauliai, en Lituanie, pour intercepter un appareil survolant la mer Baltique. A 9h12, les Mirage F1 CR ont intercepté un aéronef russe de type Iliouchine-20 COOT A. Dix minutes plus tard, après vérification de tous les critères de l'aéronef, ils ont rejoint leur base.

Depuis le 30 avril 2013, près de 90 militaires français et 4 Mirage F1CR assurent la mission Baltic, sous mandat de l'OTAN. Durant 4 mois, le détachement conduit des missions d'assistance et de police du ciel dans l'espace aérien de la Lituanie, de la Lettonie et de l'Estonie.

Vandaag hebben twee Mirage's een Russische inlichtingentoestel begeleid.


Zeewier

Citaat van: Lex op 16/06/2013 | 23:23 uur
Imho heeft Open Skies hier niets mee te maken. En heb ik nog steeds geen antwoord op mijn vraag.
Voor Open Skies moet wel de transponder aan en contact gemaakt worden voor wat hun bestemming is en op welk flight level ze zitten. Dat doen ze dus niet.

Lex

Citaat van: Zeewier op 16/06/2013 | 23:04 uur
Natuurlijk vliegen ze grotendeels in internationaal luchtruim en is er het Open Skies verdrag. Toch is nabij Gotland en Gotska Sandön Zweeds luchtruim.
Imho heeft Open Skies hier niets mee te maken. En heb ik nog steeds geen antwoord op mijn vraag.

Zeewier

Citaat van: Lex op 14/06/2013 | 22:19 uur
Vliegen van a naar b?
Wat heeft "Europees luchtruim" hiermee te maken?
Natuurlijk vliegen ze grotendeels in internationaal luchtruim en is er het Open Skies verdrag. Toch is nabij Gotland en Gotska Sandön Zweeds luchtruim.