DefenceTalkNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday the alliance could heighten its presence around Sweden and the Baltic Sea to protect the country from Russian interference during a potential membership application. “We must remember that from the moment Sweden potentially applies, and NATO says that it wants Sweden to join, there is a very strong […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-eyes-heightened-presence-around-sweden-baltic-78777/

Ankara: Turkey will block a NATO plan to defend Baltic countries unless the alliance recognises a Kurdish militant group as terrorists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday before a London summit. The NATO meeting, marking the alliance’s 70th anniversary, was set to be a tense affair with Turkey at odds with other members over […]

DefenceTalkNATO has held its first war games focused on defending the Suwalki Gap, a land corridor critical to the security of its Baltic allies, officials said on Monday, amid tensions with Russia. The narrow stretch of the Polish-Lithuanian border is sandwiched between Russia’s highly militarized Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus, a close Kremlin ally. Military strategists […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-holds-first-war-games-on-vulnerable-baltic-corridor-70177/

DefenceTalkHundreds of German soldiers were preparing Thursday to deploy the Baltics as part of a force organized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Five hundred soldiers assembled near the Bavarian town of Oberviechtach for a farewell ceremony with 450 soldiers coming from the Bundeswehr and the remainder from Belgium and the Netherlands. In the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/hundreds-of-german-soldiers-prepare-to-deploy-to-baltics-for-nato-68875/

DefenceTalkOn 5 January 2017, NATO’s Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission entered its 43rd rotation since its beginning in 2004. After four months of leading the mission, France handed over the symbolic key to the Baltic Airspace to the Netherlands at the traditional ceremony held at Šiauliai Air Base. The Royal Netherlands Air Force will now […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-hands-over-lead-in-baltic-air-policing-to-the-netherlands-68769/

DefenceTalkA formal ceremony has taken place at the Amari Air Base in Estonia, as the Royal Air Force passes on responsibility for the policing of our NATO allies’ airspace to the German Air Force. UK Typhoon fighters have been deployed since April on their third four-month rotation in the Baltic Air Policing Mission, the mission […]https://www.defencetalk.com/uk-hands-over-responsibility-for-securing-baltic-skies-to-germany-68087/

DefenceTalkADAZI MILITARY BASE, Latvia: A multinational force including U.S. Marines partnered together for a large-scale NATO exercise in the Baltics demonstrating their ability to defend the alliance. Exercise Saber Strike 16 included U.S. Marines from Black Sea Rotational Force based in Romania, and Combat Logistics Regiment 2 out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. “We fight […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-nato-allies-conduct-large-scale-exercise-to-defend-baltics-67712/

DefenceTalkNATO will deploy four international battalions to Poland and the three Baltic states as part of the wider pushback against Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said Monday. “We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multi-national battalions in the Baltic states and Poland,” Stoltenberg told a news conference ahead of a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-to-deploy-4-robust-battalions-in-baltics-poland-67636/

DefenceTalkThe RAF Typhoon detachment deployed to Amari air base in Estonia at NATO’s request on 1 May this year, operating alongside Norwegian aircraft to secure NATO’s airspace over the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania which do not have their own air defence fighters. On 25 August, at the concluding event in a series […]https://www.defencetalk.com/raf-typhoons-return-from-baltic-air-policing-mission-65184/

DefenceTalkNow, more than ever, the role that the Eurofighter is playing in protecting nations and policing behaviours across the globe is a critical capability for our customer’s armed forces. The Baltic Patrols are just one of a number of policing duties that the Eurofighter undertakes as it protects skies around Europe, the Middle East, and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/eurofighter-typhoons-role-in-nato-baltic-air-policing-65026/