Posted on 03/18/2010 6:28:43 AM PDT by lizol
Nato planes’ drill cause Russia worry
AFP/Vilnius
A handful of Nato aircraft took to the Baltic states’ skies yesterday for an exercise that has raised hackles in Russia, still riled by the alliance’s expansion into its Soviet-era stamping ground.
In a statement, Nato’s Germany-based Air Command said the one-day drill over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia demonstrated the trans-Atlantic alliance’s “commitment to their collective security” and airspace safety.
It would also improve working relations among alliance members’ ground controllers and air forces, it added. The Baltic trio joined Nato and the European Union in 2004, almost 13 years after winning freedom from the crumbling Soviet Union. With a combined population of just 6.8 million people and a regular military of 23,000, they are wary of their former overlord Moscow’s growing assertiveness.
Earlier this month, Russia’s ambassador to Nato headquarters in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin, slammed the air drill. “This issue arouses concern in Russia, so we will demand a detailed report on the structure of the forces to be involved in the exercise, its goal, scenario, and who will be declared the enemy,” Rogozin told the Russian news agency Interfax.
Nato said the regular drill, the fifth over the three countries, involved just seven planes. They included two French fighters currently responsible for patrolling the skies over the Baltic states, which lack enough planes to cover their airspace.
Three Polish planes and two from Lithuania’s small air force also took part in the operation, simulating routine procedures to intercept an aircraft heading from Poland and whose communications have gone offline, Nato said.
Baltic defence officials dismissed Moscow’s criticism. Lithuania’s Defence Minister Rasa Jukneviciene contrasted the Nato drill with war games last September near the Baltic states’ borders by Russia and Belarus. That exercise involved more than 12,000 troops, over 200 tanks, 470 other armoured vehicles and 100 aircraft and was the largest in the region for 25 years.
Last week during a visit to Poland -- another former communist-bloc nation that joined Nato in 1999 -- the alliance’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Moscow had sent the “wrong kind of signal by conducting military exercises that rehearse the invasion of a smaller Nato member”.
wonder why the wheels are down on the one jet?
Kinda like the senior citizen who leaves their left turn signal on.
They'll be usin' 'em again in a little bit. ;-)
Better question: What’s that high-wing aircraft that looks like a motorized version of a WWII troop glider?
Great pics! Thanks for posting. Nice to see the F-16s in Polish colors. Your MiG-29s are still looking good, too.
Surely the Russians can't be that stupid.
God Bless Polska!
Kinda looks like an AN-28.
Kinda looks like an AN-28.
It’s based on AN-28.
I see that now, thanks.
To match the speed of the transport. Speed brakes, flaps and slats are also deployed.
Makes sense. The drag caused by the wheels being down helps slow the jet down.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.