The airspace of the Baltic states will now be guarded by Italian Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighters. At the Emari air base near Tallinn, the German Air Force, which was engaged in this earlier, transferred authority to the Italian Air Force.
According to the press service of the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces, for the first time, Italian F-35 Lightning II fighters are participating in the Baltic Air Security Mission. The press release is quoted by RIA Novosti. By the way, the German pilots were patrolling in Estonia for eight months. The Baltic States themselves do not have modern aircraft for air patrol, so since 2004, this has been done by NATO countries in a rotating mode. The aircraft are based in Lithuania at the Zokniai airfield. Since 2014, the Estonian air base Emari has become an additional site.
The F-35 Lightning II fighters, which will patrol the Baltic States ' airspace, are part of the 13th Italian Air Group. It is based at the Amendola air base in the Italian province of Foggia.
Svetlana Tsygankova
