Baltic Air Policing detachment supports multidomain exercise Baltic Protector
RAMSTEIN, Germany – The two months long Exercise Baltic Protector culminated this week in Estonia. Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft based at Ämari Air Base, Estonia as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, conducted a series of flights over participating maritime assets, HMS Albion and HMS Kent. The exercise tests the Joint Expeditionary Force’s ability to conduct complex multi-faceted operations, and allows allies to train together to increase interoperability.
Exercise Baltic Protector started in Denmark in May, and has taken place all across the Baltic Sea. The exercise concluded with an amphibious landing exercise in the Valkla-Salmistu region on the northern coast of Estonia. The exercise, led by the British Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), will include some 3,000 Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Finnish troops and 20 warships. The goal of the exercise is to test international cooperation of the defence forces and rehearse naval tactics, amphibious landing operations and air power integration. This truly highlights the significance of training in multi-domain operations.
The Royal Air Force Typhoons are currently based at Ämari Air Base, Estonia to secure the skies over NATO Allies Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The detachment took over the augmenting role of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in May 2019, along with the leading detachment of the Hungarian Air Force and a second augmenting detachment of the Spanish Air Force, both based in Siauliai, Lithuania. To enhance joint training effects, available jets can support exercising land and maritime units if the mission permits.
