France, Spain and the UK take over NATO BAP mission
France, Spain and the UK have taken over the NATO Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission until August 2020.
Beginning on 1 May, the three NATO allies replaced detachments from Belgium and Poland which were previously charged with protecting airspace over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. British and Spanish aircraft will operate out of Siauliai AFB in Lithuania whilst the French detachment will be based in Amari, Estonia.
Oana Lungescu, a spokesperson at NATO, said: ‘This 24/7 mission demonstrates that our commitment to the security of our Allies is rock-solid and that our vital work goes on despite the coronavirus pandemic.’
BAP missions have been conducted since 2004 and have become strengthened since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Russian aircraft are regularly intercepted with BAP aircraft being scrambled more than 200 times during 2019 alone.
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