US Air Force F-15Es landed in Estonia to support NATO’s enhanced air policing mission

News January 29, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets assigned to the 4th Fighter Wing at Johnson Air Force Base, Seymour, North Carolina, land at Amari Air Force Base in Estonia on January 26 to support NATO’s enhanced air policing mission.

According to the NATO Allied Air Command press release, while in Estonia, the U.S. fighters will work with NATO allies in the Baltics to practice air-to-air and air-to-ground maneuvers and integrate with a detachment of Belgian F-16s to work on the enhanced air policing mission.

The U.S. pilots will fly alongside a contingent of Belgian F-16s and Estonian aircraft currently supporting air policing missions. In addition, Denmark’s F-16s were also deployed to Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania on January 27.

Headquarters Allied Air Command, Chief of Staff Major General Jöerg Lebert said, “Baltic and enhanced Air Policing are enduring NATO missions that deliver constant vigilance of Allied airspace and contribute to the Alliance’s collective defense posture.”

“The additional aircraft will work closely with the current detachments to increase our readiness, build crucial interoperability, and underline the robust solidarity across the Alliance,” Lebert added.

NATO’s air policing mission focuses on monitoring “airspace violations, suspicious air activity close to the alliance’s borders, or other kinds of unsafe air traffic,” and fighter jets are tasked with responding urgently to any threat.

An official at the Amari Air Force Base was quoted as saying that the U.S. fighter jets would be deployed in the Baltic state until February 4 or 5, 2022.

The deployment of the F-15E comes two weeks after the Air Force sent the F-16 to Poland on the way to Estonia and Lithuania for air policing training with the Eastern European allies.

The U.S. Air Force in Europe also stressed in a statement that the deployment was “long-planned.”

^{Airmen from the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. and the 48th Fighter Wing, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, arrive at Amari Air Base, Estonia, January 24, 2022. (Image Credit: U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Megan Beatty)}

According to the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania, and Romania, the countries are ready to host additional troops. France is also reported to have plans to dispatch its forces in Romania, which borders Ukraine.

NATO statement also said that the alliance is also “sending additional ships and fighter jets” to Eastern Europe, which includes Denmark’s F-16s, Spanish naval forces, the Netherlands’ F-35s.

Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin placed 8,500 U.S. soldiers on high readiness in the event of a deployment decision