NATO aircraft to practice night flying this week
German fighter jets stationed at the Ämari airbase in northwestern Estonia are to rehearse night flying activities this week, as part of NATO's Baltic air policing duties.
The flight activity in Estonian airspace will last from Monday to Friday until 9 p.m., spokespersons for the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) headquarters said.
Following a North Atlantic Council decision, NATO member states who have combat air forces have been taking turns to perform the air policing mission in the air spaces of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since March 2004, when the three countries joined NATO.
The Baltic air policing mission is part of the NATO Smart Defense concept, whose aim is to conserve and pool the resources of member states by contributing together to different capabilities.
In addition to the Eurofighter Typhoon jets of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) contingent currently stationed at Ämari on two, back-to-back rotations, a second air detachment of the NATO Baltic air policing mission is based at the Šiauliai airbase in Lithuania, where the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) is currently carrying out its rotation, also using Typhoons.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino, Andrew Whyte
