Today, Minister of Defence of Lithuania Robertas Kaunas met with Romanian counterpart Radu-Dinel Miruță at the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Šiauliai. They focused on the incidents of the recent weeks caused by drone breeches into the Baltic airspace.
“NATO Air Policing Mission is one of the most significant examples of Allied defence and solidarity. We are grateful to Romania for contributing to the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states. Even though Lithuania and Romania are 1000 km apart geographically, we share the approach to threats and coordinate our response,” said Minister of National Defence R. Kaunas.
According to him, the recent incidents involving uncrewed systems in Lithuania and the other Eastern Flank Allies shows we are facing a new reality.
Romanian Minister of National Defence underscored highlighted there were stray drones breeching into his country was well, he also wanted to learn more about Lithuania’s experience of commutation with Ukraine and the support of the Lithuanian society to Ukraine.
A major attention at the meeting was paid to the grown intensity of the Russian propaganda. “We cannot allow to spread smearing information about us under the guise of freedom of speech. This is not an issue of individual countries any longer, this is about the whole European Union,” said Minister of National Defence of Romania Radu – Dinel- Miruță.
The meeting officials also addressed security of the Eastern Flank and exchanged views on the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara.
The NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states was handed over to the French and the Romanian Air Forces in late March. The mission flown from the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Šiauliai is led by a French Detachment with the Dassault Rafale aircraft. It is reinforced by the Romanian Air Force with F-16 Fighting Falcons.
The French are safeguarding the Baltic skies for the ninth time, the Romanians – for the fourth time. Throughout the deployment in Šiauliai, the Allies maintain tight cooperation with Lithuanian Air Force personnel which ensures Host Nation Support and smooth conduct of the mission.
The NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states has been conducted without interruptions since 2004 thus ensuring integrity of the Lithuania, Latvian and Estonian airspace. Over more than two decades of life, it has been conducted by more than 17 Allies, most of them – more than once. The Allies are also running regular air defence system training exercises.
