Gallery: Germany starts NATO Baltic air policing duties at Ämari
Germany took over Baltic air policing duties from the French at Ämari Air Base on Monday.
Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Martin Herem thanked the members of the French airforce for their professional cooperation and welcomed the Germans who will remain in Estonia for the next eight months.
They will provide air security with Eurofighter Typhoon fighters and are on call 24 hours a day. Germany has previously participated in the NATO mission at Ämari six times.
NATO member states have been guarding Baltic airspace on a rotating basis since March 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became members of NATO.
NATO's second air security regiment is based at the Šiauliai airbase in Lithuania, where the Italian air force will start their rotation on September 8.
Today a detachment of German Eurofighter jets took over Baltic Air Policing duties from their outgoing French comrades. This is the 12th German deployment to the region. They will also carry out combined training with Allies in the region. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/CblLWcRsEW
— Germany at NATO (@GermanyNATO) August 31, 2020
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Editor: Helen Wright