Italy’s Contribution to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing

Italy’s support to NATO Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission features under the name Operation “Frontiera Baltica” (or Baltic Frontier). From 1 January until 30 April, the Italian Air Force had been the lead nation for the 38th rotation of this Allied mission over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In a back-to-back detachment Italy has kept its Eurofighter Typhoon jets deployed at Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, from 1 May until 31 August 2015. That means that Italy is the first Ally to support the BAP mission for a full eight months in a row.

The operational Italian Unit named Task Force Air (ITA-TFA) has operated four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft under the aegis of NATO’s Combined Air Operations Uedem in Germany through the Control and Reporting Centre at Karmelava in Lithuania. The BAP mission is preserving the integrity of Allies’ airspace and is overseen by HQ Allied Air Command at Ramstein in Germany. This mission is a perfect example of how Italy demonstrates its commitment to NATO’s defence posture contributing to NATO airspace safety and security also over those countries that do not have their own Air Policing capabilities.

During its deployment, ITA-TFA operated under the NATO concept “train as you operate”, conducting real air missions alongside training missions.

“With this contribution to BAP, Italy has become the only Ally to have performed all NATO Interim Air Policing (IAP) missions, Slovenia, Albania, Iceland and the Baltics,” said the ITA-TFA detachment commander, Colonel Vito Cracas. “In fact the Italian Air Force has assured IAP over Slovenia 24/7 since 2004, over Albania since 2009 sharing this duty with Greece and we conducted NATO missions in Iceland in 2013 and now here in the Baltic Region.

The Italian Task Force commander, Colonel Vito Cracas (left), welcomed Air Supreme Allied Commander Europe, US General Philip Breedlove (right), at Šiauliai Air Base this June to see how NATO’s Baltic Air Policing was going. Photo courtesy ITA-TFA

The current 38th rotation of NATO’s BAP mission is led by four Norwegian F-16 fighters at Šiauliai Air Base, and augmented by Italian Typhoon Eurofighter jets, four Belgian F-16 fighters deployed at Malbork, Poland since 1 January and four British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jets deployed to Ämari, Estonia. A hand-over of the BAP mission is scheduled to take place at the end of August, when four Hungarian JAS-39 Gripen fighters will provide the lead and four German Eurofighter Typhoon jets will augment the 39th rotations of the Allied mission that has been conducted continuously since March 2004.

NATO remains committed to providing a single standard of security with NATO Allies’ airspace. The BAP posture is continuously analysed and restructured to assure it remains ready and at the appropriate level responsive level.

Source:NATO

By

L. J. De Rothschild

Senior Editor

NATO Section

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