A version of this story appeared in the Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each Wednesday.
NATO air crews scrambled more than 300 times last year to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching the airspace of alliance members, mostly over the Baltic Sea, NATO officials said this month.
According to established policy, NATO jets will scramble when there are signs of Russian military planes approaching allied airspace in “unpredictable ways,” officials said.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine has created the most dangerous security situation in Europe in decades,” NATO spokesman Dylan White said. “NATO fighter jets are on duty around the clock, ready to scramble in case of suspicious or unannounced flights near the airspace of our allies. Air policing is an important way in which NATO provides security for our allies.”
When operating near the border of NATO countries, Russian military aircraft have a history of not transmitting a transponder code indicating their position and altitude, not communicating with air traffic controllers and not filing a flight plan. Despite that, most aerial encounters between NATO and Russian jets were “safe and professional,” officials said.
“Breaches of NATO airspace by Russian military aircraft remained rare and generally of short duration,” NATO said in a statement.
NATO has substantially reinforced its air defenses along the alliance’s border with Russia in the wake of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, including increased surveillance flights and ground-based air defenses.
In June 2023, NATO held “Air Defender 2023,” its biggest air exercise with more than 250 combat aircraft taking part in training missions for the collective defense of the alliance, NATO officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.