On September 2 – 8 NATO fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states carried out three alert scrambles to identify and escort military aircraft of the Russian Federation in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
On September 3 NATO air policing fighter aircraft intercepted two SU-30 aircraft flying from the mainland of the Russian Federation to Kaliningrad. Neither had their onboard transponder on, nor flight plans, nor kept radio contact with the regional air traffic control centre.
On September 5 fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission were scrambled to intercept an aircraft maneuvering in Lithuania’s Flight Information Region (FIR) of international airspace after it flew in from Kaliningrad. The onboard transponder of the aircraft was off, it did not have the flight plan, and did not maintain radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre. The aircraft eventually left Lithuania’s FIR and went back to Kaliningrad before it was unidentified.
On September 6 NATO Air Policing aircraft intercepted one AN-30 flying from Kaliningrad to mainland Russia with its onboard transponder on, according to a pre-filed flight plan, maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre.
Related photo, credit: Filip Modrzejewski
