On July 29 NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission detachments will change over at a ceremony on the Air Pressure Base in Siauliai, Lithuania. The incoming Hungarian Air Pressure Detachment will take over the lead from the Spanish airmen, whereas the Czech augmentation will perform a consecutive two-month rotation. It will be the sixtieth iteration of the NATO Air Policing mission within the Baltic states. It is going to be led by the Hungarian Air Pressure Detachment that deploys to Lithuania with 4 JAS 39 GRIPEN fighter jets. It will be the third rotation of Hungary because the launch of the NATO Air Policing Mission within the Baltic states (after 2015 and 2019).
The outgoing detachment of the Spanish Air Pressure had been guarding the Baltic airspace with eight F-18s. The mission duties had been accomplished by approx. 200 army service members – pilots, technical, medical personnel, help groups, communications and different specialists. The strengthening functionality of the Czech Air Pressure had been (and can) augmenting the lead detachment for the subsequent two months with 5 JAS 39 Gripen fighter plane and approx. 130 army personnel.
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Augmentation of the NATO Air Policing Mission can be flown from the Ämari Air Pressure Base in Estonia by the German Air Pressure with Eurofighter fighter plane whereas the enhancement of the mission performed from the Polish Air Pressure base at Malbork can be ensured by the Italian Air Pressure with Eurofighter jets. The detachments deployed in Siauliai have been sustaining shut ties with the group of Siauliai, hosted scholar and pupil excursions, attended metropolis occasions, carried out charitable actions for Siauliai Metropolis Alkas Service Advanced-House and saved firm for teenagers with disabilities over the previous 4 months of the mission in Lithuania.
The hand over – take over ceremony on July 29 can be attended by Vice Minister of Nationwide Defence Vilius Semeska, Minister of Defence of Hungary Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Valdemaras Rupsys, Chief of Defence of Hungary Lt Gen Dr. Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, Assistant Command at NATO headquarters Marius Dabkevicius, ambassadors, representatives of the town of Siauliai, and different friends. As Russia continues the struggle in Ukraine, NATO fighter plane should not solely conducting alert scrambles in response to violations of worldwide aviation guidelines dedicated by Russian plane within the worldwide airspace over the Baltic Sea.
NATO Allies stand vigilant and prepared to reply to each form of menace: at the moment, the Alliance has 130 plane on excessive alert and approx. 30 allied plane are the air at one time routinely. Hungary, an Ally that Lithuania has bilateral defence cooperation with since 1999, can be answerable for defending the Baltic airspace for the subsequent 4 months. Hungary additionally contributes to the safety of Lithuania and the Baltic area by deploying army personnel to train sin Lithuania and actions of the NATO Pressure Integration.
Following Hungary’s membership of NATO in 1999, in November 2001 it was within the technique of negotiating a 10-year lease contract for 12 Gripen plane, with an choice to buy the plane on the finish of the lease interval. The contract was renegotiated and was signed on 2 February 2003 for a complete of 14 Gripens, which had initially been A/B normal and had undergone an intensive improve course of to the NATO-compatible C/D ‘Export Gripen’ normal. The final plane deliveries passed off in December 2007. The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter plane manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and protection firm Saab AB.
