A detachment of four Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters from the Netherlands has been deployed to the Baltic region to support NATO’s air policing mission along the Russian frontier.
NATO’s Allied Air Command on 2 December confirmed the arrival of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) jets at Estonia’s Amari Air Base located near the capital Tallinn.
“We are ready to operate our fifth-generation fighter jets from Amari Air Base to provide 24/7 air surveillance and to defend ourselves and our allies,” says RNLAF Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Smaal, commander of the Dutch fighter detachment.
“This deployment is aimed at securing the Baltic airspace and is one of the Netherlands’ efforts to provide assurance to our Allies on NATO’s eastern flank,” he adds.
Amsterdam previously deployed eight F-35As to Poland in 2023 to support the air policing effort.
The latest group of jets arrived at Amari just three weeks after NATO and Estonia touted completing an eight-month renovation of the site that included resurfacing the main runway, taxiways and aprons. The €16.5 million ($17.3 million) project was funded by Luxembourg and Estonia.
Estonian defence minister Hanno Pevkur says Tallinn is “delighted” to host allied forces as part of “various exercises, NATO’s rotational air defence model or air policing”.
Lieutenant General Thorsten Poschwatta, commander of NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem, Germany, notes the Dutch F-35s will be the first NATO aircraft to operate from the renovated field at Amari.
“This is a clear demonstration of how allies invest into new cutting-edge technology and capability to stand up against current and future threats,” the German officer says.
A separate contingent of French Dassault Rafale fighters and Italian Eurofighter Typhoons are also stationed at Siauliai, Lithuania to support the patrolling of allied airspace.
NATO says both Siauliai and Amari are now “capable hubs”, with the combined French, Italian and Dutch fighter force representing a “robust air capability” committed to ensuring the territorial integrity of alliance member states.
The deployments of combat aircraft come as leaders in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are increasingly concerned about Russian rhetoric and military activity around the Baltic Sea region.
NATO and the USA have stepped up the allied presence in the area in recent weeks, having flown multiple sorties of US Air Force Boeing B-52H heavy bombers assigned to the UK.
On 15 November, one of those eight-engined jets dropped live ordnance on a training range in Latvia, guided by Joint Terminal Attack Controllers from Norway, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
