Hungarian Gripens Fly Familiarization Flight in Estonian Airspace
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu / MTI | 2014. december 12. 9:00Two Gripen fighters of the Hungarian Air Force conducted a familiarization flight in the airspace of Estonia on Wednesday, December 10. The aircraft are getting ready to join NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission in 2015, the Directorate of the General Staff of the Estonian armed forces announced in Tallinn.
The Hungarian contingent – to be stationed on Zokniai Air Base, Lithuania – will start flying the air policing missions in the second half of 2015. The Baltic NATO member states do not have combat aircraft suitable for air policing, so since their accession to the Alliance in April 2004, the NATO countries have been providing their air defence on a rotational basis. The NATO aircraft are stationed on Zokniai Air Base in Lithuania, but as from 2014, some of them have been relocated to Ämari Air Base, Estonia. As also already reported by RIA Novosti, the Baltic Air Policing Mission is currently performed by Eurofighters from the German Air Force and also by Portuguese F–16s, Canadian CF–18 Hornets and Polish-based Dutch F–16 combat aircraft.
According to a November press release by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence, Hungary is participating more effectively in the NATO Integrated Air Defence System (NATINADS), and in the future, the Hungarian Defence Forces may deploy aircraft and ground support personnel to NATO allies. Hungary is going to perform the Baltic Air Policing Mission with four Gripen fighters and their ground support personnel between September and December 2015.
