Baltic Air Policing Monument Unveiled
Szöveg: Lt. Andor Gyeginszky | 2016. január 6. 9:00Continuing the predecessors’ tradition, the Hungarian Baltic Air Policing detachment has recently erected a monument to its four-month deployment in the Quick Reaction Area of Siauliai Air Base, Lithuania. Since 2004, servicemen of all nations deployed on the base have placed here their small plaques and memorials to immortalize their air policing duties.
Most memorials show the type of aircraft, emblems and home base of the unit, but some nations – including the Hungarians – have left a somewhat more special reminder. The Hungarian ground engineers deployed in Lithuania made a rear stabilizer of an old MiG–21 fighter into a special relic that commemorates one of the most important missions of the Hungarian Air Force.
It has been 70 years since the Hungarian Defence Forces were last assigned a task resembling the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission. The Hungarian Gripens, their pilots, the ground crew and the logistic personnel are stationed on a foreign base as lead nation, partnering with Germany under NATO command to protect the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Their busy daily detail is evidenced by the fact that since 1 September, the Hungarians have performed more than 20 Alpha (live) and more than 80 Tango (practice) scrambles totaling more than 390 flight hours.
“The personnel was under great pressure owing to the busy tasking schedule, but thanks to their exemplary attitude and proficiency, no sorties had to be cancelled because of technical problems", Maj. Tamás Szabó, the commander of the ground crew said at the unveiling ceremony. He added that besides their work, the airmen had held it important to create such a magnificent work, which is proof of their determination and enthusiasm and a well-deserved monument to their four-month tour of duty.
From September 2015 to January 2016, more than 810 Hungarian airmen and four JAS–39 Gripen fighters are performing air policing duties in the Baltic countries on a 24/7 stand-by. This mission is needed because Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not own any fighter planes, so since their 2004 accession to NATO, in the spirit of collective defence, their allies have been protecting their airspace in four-month rotations. It is the first time that Hungary has participated in the mission, but it has already committed itself to deploy its Gripens to the region in 2019 again.
Photos by the author
