The Polish air force has completed its third period of providing air policing cover for Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with four RSK MiG-29s having returned to its Minsk Mazowiecki air base on 1 September.
Drawn from the 1st Tactical Air Squadron, the aircraft made around 160 flights totalling 220h from Lithuania's Siauliai air base during the "Orlik 3" detachment, which started on 30 April. This included one so-called "alpha" scramble, launched against a pair of Russian Sukhoi Su-24s.
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© Rafała Meszka/Polish air force |
The combat aircraft were first intercepted over the Baltic Sea by Swedish air force Saab Gripens, before Polish MiG-29As were scrambled to escort them towards Kaliningrad. "It was caused by a wrong declaration of the time of the Russian flight," confirms Orlik 3 commander Lt Col Robert Kozak.
Supported by around 100 deployed personnel, including eight pilots, the MiG-29s were flown armed with Vympel R-60MK air-to-air missiles.
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© Rafała Meszka/Polish air force |
Speaking as the detachment returned to Poland, defence minister Bogdan Klich said "for the next rotation, planned for 2012, MiG-29s or [Lockheed Martin] F-16s will be sent".
The Baltic air policing mission has been assumed by the US Air Force's 493rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron for a four-month period. The unit has deployed four Boeing F-15C fighters to Siauliai (below) from RAF Lakenheath in the UK.
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© Polish air force |
Additional reporting by Grzegorz Sobczak
Source: Flight International
