17:51 GMT, September 1, 2009 Today, Riho Terras, Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, and Brigadier General Valeri Saar, Commander of the Estonian Air Force, attended, along with their Latvian, Lithuanian, Czech and German colleagues, the air policing mission exchange ceremony of the Baltic members of NATO at Zokniai Air Base in the Republic of Lithuania.
Today, the Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany took over the air policing of the Baltic States for four months, with four Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. The commencing rotation is the first time that the air space of Estonia and the other Baltic States will be protected by Eurofighter Typhoons, manufactured in cooperation between several countries.

When assigning the air policing mission, Rüdiger Wolf, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defence of Germany, stated that the protection of the Alliance is the main task of NATO. “Air policing is a part of this task. We understand your security needs, as we have been a border country of NATO ourselves,” Wolf declared.

Jan Fulik, the Czech Deputy Minister of Defence, reported that the Czechs obtained a lot of valuable experience during the safeguarding of the Baltic air space. “We are ready to participate in the air policing of the Baltic States in the future as well,” he added.

“With the commencing rotation, the allies will provide the air policing mission of the Baltic States with the most modern equipment at their disposal. At the moment, the Eurofighter is included in the armaments of only five countries and is the newest and most powerful fighter aircraft used in Europe. By contributing to the Baltic air policing mission with the most up-to-date equipment, Germany shows that the mission is an important and serious task for the allies,” said Brigadier General Valeri Saar, Commander of the Estonian Air Force.

The German Air Force is policing Baltic air space for the third time. Members of the German Air Force will take over the air policing mission from the Czech Air Force, who, since 1 May, has been protecting Baltic air space with Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft.

Earlier, the air policing of the Baltic States has been undertaken by Belgian, British, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, French, Romanian, Danish, Turkish and US fighters. The fighters providing air policing of the Baltic States are stationed at the Zokniai Air Base located near Siauliai.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is manufactured in cooperation between Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The first flight of the multi-role fighter took place in 1994. Eurofighter Typhoon is a single-seat combat fighter with a combat radius of up to 1389 km, maximum speed of 2495 km/h and service ceiling of almost 20 km. The fighter is armed with both air-to-air and air-to-surface type missiles.

The new fighters will protect Baltic air space for two months, after which the German Air force will continue its mission with F4F Phantom fighters.


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German Air Force to Replace Czech Air Contingent in Baltic Air-Policing Mission
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