Soldiers of the NATO Baltic air policing mission will be present at the Lithuanian Armed Forces and Society Day for the first time. This NATO mission on May 14 will be introduced to the society in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city, by soldiers of French Air Force who are currently protecting the Baltic airspace.
"In the festivity in Kaunas our soldiers will represent different specialities required to conduct this mission. These include firemen, force protection, mechanics, Mirage 2000 fighter jet pilots. They will arrive to the festivity in combat uniforms in order to show what are the uniforms, equipment and gear used in the mission", said representative of the French Air Force, Captain Sylvain Favier.
Visitors to the French Air Force tent put up in Kaunas Santaka Park will be provided with a possibility to see photos and videos on the French Air Force unit currently involved in the Baltic air policing mission. The French soldiers will introduce tasks they carry out while patrolling over the Baltic air space, as well as missions they attended in Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Chad and other places of the world. French soldiers will also distribute the visitors their unit insignia, souvenirs, badges.
The French soldiers currently patrolling over the Baltic airspace - representatives of Fighter Squadron 2/5 "Ile-De-France" - will participate in this mission till June. Later, for the next two months of the mission rotation they will be replaced by their colleagues from Fighter Squadron 1/12 "Cambrèsis".
It is already the third time that the French Air Force with four fighters Mirage -2000 participate in the NATO Baltic air policing mission. They took over the present mission from their German colleagues at the end of April this year. Currently four French fighters Mirage-2000 are deployed in Šiauliai Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force for the rotation covering four months. In response to the Baltic air space violations they are ready to take off any minute.
NATO countries have started sending their troops and fighter jets to protect the Baltic airspace in March 2004, when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became NATO members. Since then Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the UK, the USA, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, France, Romania, Turkey and Germany have already deployed their troops and fighters in the mission.
The main task of the air policing mission is to ensure the protection of NATO's air space by patrolling and responding to possible violations of the airspace. Air policing function is ensured in all NATO countries. As Baltic countries have no capabilities (fighters) to carry out this mission, the air policing mission is carried out by using joint NATO capabilities. NATO's North Atlantic Council has approved the decision to prolong the NATO Air policing mission till the end of 2014. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seek this mission to be extended at least till 2018.
Photos by the French Air Force (1), Lithuanian Air Force (2,3).