French Rafale fighter jets deployed in Lithuania as part of NATO’s air policing mission twice in one day were used to escort and intercept Russian aircraft over the Baltic region.
This was reported by the operational headquarters of the French Armed Forces on the social network X.
“First intervention: Handover and escort of a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft, Relief of a Romanian F16 patrol that had intercepted a flight of Russian TU22s accompanied by fighters, Escort of several Russian fighters (SU30 and SU35). Second intervention:
Interception of a SU-30 followed by a SU-35,” the military said, also sharing a short video of the event.
It is noted that French crews based at Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania have recently been repeatedly deployed for flights as part of the reinforced NATO mission. Over just one week, four French Rafale B jets conducted several emergency takeoffs and identified and escorted at least six Russian aircraft near the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
France currently leads one of the rotations of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission. For this purpose, at the end of March, four Rafale B jets and more than 100 rapid response troops were deployed to Lithuania.
