In an interview to BNS Lithuania, Pavel of the Czech Republic said that the downsizing of the mission was not announced in a proper manner. He assured that the eight fighter-jets stationed in Lithuania and Estonia are fully sufficient for airspace protection.
After Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined NATO in 2004 and until the Ukrainian crisis, the Baltic air-policing mission was conducted by four fighter-jets deployed in the Lithuanian Aviation Base in Siauliai, northern Lithuania. After Russia annexed Crimea, Allies kept sending 16 jets – eight to Lithuania and four to Estonia and Poland each.
From September, the mission was cut down to continued by four jets in Lithuania and Estonia.
The Czech general who presides over meetings of NATO military representatives said the decision to reduce the mission by half was "purely technical" based on the fact that NATO jets were scrambled every second day on average to identify and accompany Russian warplanes.
"After about half a year of experience, air command came to an assessment that out of these 12 planes, which were put on the top of four already in place, only two were actually used," Pavel said.
NATO military representatives announced the plans to downsize the mission in August, a report that came as a surprise to the society and some high-ranking officials.
"I have to admit that this was not very fortunate in terms of communication to the public. If you tell the public that we are reducing air-policing by eight aircraft when they hear at the same time that Russian air activity is increasing, it doesn't make much sense," said Pavel.
"If you say that Russian air activity raised by 50 percent since comparable period in previous years but we have raised air police in the Baltics by 100 percent, it makes more sense. With these 12 aircraft, we have increased it in fact 400 percent," Pavel said.
NATO's Baltic air policing mission operates from bases in Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.
