As of: March 25, 2024, 8:16 p.m
By: Karsten Hinzmann
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Press
Split
In the air to show broad shoulders: the Bundeswehr's Eurofighter;
the interception of foreign aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea or - in conjunction with partners - over the entire NATO territory.
(Symbolic photo) © IMAGO/Rainer Droese
They could look each other in the eye, that's how close they come: Russia's pilots and those from NATO.
Right now near Russian nuclear submarines again.
Moscow – “This is our daily business,” says Stefan Arne Bremkens;
The air force lieutenant colonel is jointly responsible for security over a large part of NATO airspace.
“Our task is to accompany Russian long-distance aircraft in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea - on the one hand we show our presence, on the other hand we collect information ourselves about who is flying where and why,” says Bremkens to
NDR
, who is the airspace security situation center Rostock-Laage leads.
His task has become more important since the Ukraine war.
The Turkish news agency
Anadolu
is currently reporting that two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers and a MIG-31 interceptor apparently met again over the Barents Sea - a potentially dangerous situation.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the bombers adjusted their flight path when the Russian fighter jet approached them and then returned safely to their home airfield.
The Barents Sea is a highly sensitive territory for Russia because not only is its Northern Fleet stationed there, but the submarines located there also store a significant part of Russia's nuclear potential.
Conflict over the Barents Sea: Russia and the USA are fighting for control of the Arctic
The Northern Fleet continues to have great strategic importance for Russia.
One of its most important ports remains Zapadnaya Liza, near the Norwegian border on the Kola Peninsula.
In addition, the Barents Sea is one of the seas surrounding the Arctic, is located in the north of Russia and borders many of Moscow's important bases.
The Arctic has huge oil and gas reserves.
Climate change is melting ice in the region, opening up opportunities for fossil fuel use and forming new sea routes between continents around the North Pole.
Vladimir Putin increased military presence in the Arctic before launching his campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.
NATO is also becoming increasingly stronger in the Barents Sea, as Norwegian media reports.
It is known that US B-1B Lancer bombers are also practicing together with the Norwegians and are temporarily stationed at the Norwegian airport Ørlandet.
The Barents Sea is watched by Russia just as meticulously as the Baltic Sea by NATO, which has now expanded to include Sweden, its newest partner country.
Despite the bomber flights, the Russian state border remained unharmed, the statement from Moscow continued.
The maneuvers of the Russian fighter jet were carried out “in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters and in compliance with security measures.”
Troublemaker from Kaliningrad: The Bundeswehr receives a visit from a Russian reconnaissance agent almost every day
In November last year, the Russian Air Force rehearsed exactly this situation: In the exercise scenario, air surveillance reported the intrusion of an enemy aircraft into Russian airspace over the Barents Sea, according to the press office of the Russian Northern Fleet.
The MiG-31 fighter jets surrounded the aircraft and forced it to turn away from the Russian border;
The maneuver at an altitude of more than 13,000 meters was successful.
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"'Combat Air Patrol' basically means 'show of force', to show that NATO is ready - don't mess with us."
Lieutenant Colonel Jürgen Schumann in the Bundeswehr podcast “Inquired”
The German Air Force officer Bremkens deals with interception operations every day, as he
explained to
NDR ;
A Russian long-range reconnaissance aircraft stationed in Kaliningrad can be observed again and again over the North Sea, although the war in Ukraine has not led to the situation there becoming more serious, although with Sweden's accession to NATO, the Baltic Sea has essentially become the inland sea of the defense alliance the island of Gotland became a strategic thorn in Russia's side.
Last year, airspace surveillance in the Baltics apparently tied up significantly more of the NATO states' capacities than in the previous year, as
Spiegel
writes based on information from Brussels.
“NATO jets deployed on 570 missions in 2022 to monitor Russian military aircraft flights in international airspace.
Compared to 2021, the number of so-called alarm starts has almost doubled.
According to NATO, the reason for the increase is not only increased activity of the Russian air force, but also a stronger NATO presence on the eastern flank as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” as Der
Spiegel
writes.
Since March of this year, the presence of the German Air Force in the Baltics has also increased, as
Flug Revue
now reports .
Threat to the Baltics: Five Air Force Eurofighters ready to take off around the clock
Five Eurofighters from Tactical Air Squadron 74 will remain stationed in Latvia for nine months as part of the Reinforced Air Policing Baltic States (VAPB).
The unit from Neuburg an der Donau in Bavaria is the lead organization of the NATO mission.
The fighter jets have been providing a sharply armed alert around the clock since March.
For this purpose, the Air Force has sent contingents to the Baltics several times over the past 20 years of Baltic Air Policing, mostly to Lithuania (Šiauliai) or Estonia (Ämari).
Now the third Baltic state is hosting for the first time with the Lielvarde airfield in the middle of Latvia.
However, the Air Force's deployable Control and Reporting Center will be operating from Estonia from mid-March to the end of June to strengthen NATO's airspace surveillance in the region.
In December last year, due to the war in Ukraine, air policing went beyond “daily business”, which the
German Armed Forces Association
magazine reported on: German Eurofighters were deployed on the Black Sea at the time to support NATO partner Romania.
How close they were to the war in Ukraine became clear: the fighter jets of Tactical Air Force Squadron 31 “Boelcke” from Nörvenich in North Rhine-Westphalia had to go on alert due to increased Russian activities.
Previously, a Russian SU-24M fighter-bomber was probably shot down over the Black Sea near the island of Zmijinyj, the still contested “Snake Island”.
However, the airspace is also vulnerable to missiles - as Russia has now had to admit to Poland.
According to the
German Press Agency (dpa)
, Russia briefly violated the airspace of NATO member Poland with rocket attacks on western Ukraine on Sunday morning, according to Polish information.
On March 24th at 4:23 a.m. there was a violation of Polish airspace by a cruise missile launched that night by a Russian long-range aircraft, wrote the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces on the
X
platform (formerly
).
The object entered Polish airspace near the village of Oserdow and remained there for 39 seconds.
Air Policing over Poland: Russian missiles repeatedly violate NATO airspace
It was observed by military radar systems throughout the flight, it said.
All necessary procedures have been initiated to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.
According to Defense Minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Russian flying object penetrated 1,000 to 2,000 meters deep into Polish territory.
However, air policing is primarily aimed at intruding manned missiles and supplements ground-based air surveillance, as Lieutenant Colonel Jürgen Schumann says in the Bundeswehr podcast
Asked
.
Interceptors like the German Eurofighter can either wait on the ground for an alarm situation or fly combat air patrol in the air.
Either way, intervention would always be necessary if aircraft approach NATO territory in international airspace, have not communicated a flight plan to air traffic control or are not transmitting any identification code.
Intervening then means flying in, identifying the airmen and showing broad shoulders in order to de-escalate, as the deputy commodore from Tactical Air Force Squadron 71 “Richthofen” from Wittmund explains.
Schumann: “You then approach within 30, maybe 20 or even ten meters, make contact with the other pilot, and it can also be that you show each other your weapons with a small turning movement so that you know, okay, that's how it looks.
'Combat Air Patrol' basically means 'show of force', i.e. to show that NATO is ready - don't mess with us."
(Karsten Hinzmann)