The three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

United States air force F-15C Eagle near Vilnius (November 10, 2008)

A Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceR 'C' similar to those used during Baltic Air Policing - the RoAF made the only MiG-21 deployment since the beginning of the mission.

The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defence Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Since March 2004, when the Baltic States joined NATO, alliance nations have policed the airspace over the area on three-month rotation from Lithuania's First Air Base in Zokniai/Šiauliai International Airport, near the northern city of Šiauliai. Starting with the Turkish deployment, rotations changed to a four month basis.

Usual deployments consist of four fighter aircraft with between 50 and 100 support personnel.

[edit] Deployments

Starting Date	Country	Air Force	Aircraft	Reference
30 March 2004	Belgium	Belgian Air Component	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[1]
1 July 2004	Denmark	Royal Danish Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[2]
30 October 2004	United Kingdom	Royal Air Force	Panavia Tornado F.3	[3]
1 January 2005	Norway	Royal Norwegian Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[4]
30 March 2005	Netherlands	Royal Netherlands Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon
30 June 2005	Germany	Luftwaffe	F-4F Phantom II	[5]
12 October 2005	United States	United States Air Force	F-16CJ Fighting Falcon	[6][7]
1 January 2006	Poland	Polish Air Force	MiG-29A	[8]
31 March 2006	Turkey	Turkish Air Force	F-16C Fighting Falcon	[9][10]
1 August 2006	Spain	Spanish Air Force	Mirage F1M	[11][9]
1 December 2006	Belgium	Belgian Air Component	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[12]
1 April 2007	France	French Air Force	Mirage 2000C	[13]
1 August 2007	Romania	Romanian Air Force	MiG-21 LanceR 'C'	[14]
1 November 2007	Portugal	Portuguese Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[15][16]
16 December 2007	Norway	Royal Norwegian Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[17]
15 March 2008	Poland	Polish Air Force	MiG-29A	[18]
30 June 2008	Germany	Luftwaffe	F-4F Phantom II	[19]
30 September 2008	United States	United States Air Force	F-15C Eagle	[20][21]
2 January 2009	Denmark	Royal Danish Air Force	F-16AM Fighting Falcon	[22]
1 May 2009	Czech Republic	Czech Air Force	JAS-39C Gripen
1 September 2009	Germany	Luftwaffe	Eurofighter Typhoon	[23]
3 November 2009	Germany	Luftwaffe	F-4F Phantom II	[23]

[edit] References

• Three years of NATO Baltic Air Policing

[edit] External links

• Estonian Ministry of Defence Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET)