On December 14 – 20 fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states carried out 3 alert scrambles to identify and escort military aircraft of the Russian Federation in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
On December 14 NATO fighter aircraft intercepted one IL-20 flying according to a flight plan issued for an IL-18, maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre, onboard transponder off.
On December 15 the air policing fighter crews were scrambled to intercept one IL-20 that had taken off from and returned back to Kaliningrad. The intercept failed because the IL-20 flight route was changed.
On December 15 NATO fighter aircraft intercepted one IL-20 flying from Kaliningrad and back without the flight plan, with a switched off onboard transponder, not maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre.
Illustrative image, credits: Lithuanian Air Force
