Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jets will take part in NATO training flights over Estonia next week, along with the similar aircraft from Belgium, the country's defense forces said on Monday
HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2022) Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jets will take part in NATO training flights over Estonia next week, along with the similar aircraft from Belgium, the country's defense forces said on Monday.
"From January 10-16, training flights at low altitude in Estonia's airspace will be carried out not only by the pilots of the Belgian air force F-16 fighters stationed at the Amari airbase near Tallinn, but also by their Polish colleagues who are serving on military aircraft of the same brand in Lithuania," the Estonian Defense Forces said.
Flights will be conducted in Estonia's south-west, south and east, far from populated areas, if possible. Low-altitude flights must be agreed beforehand with the country's Aviation Department and Air Navigation Services, the agency added.
On Tuesday, the US Air Force deployed F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets in Poland, so that the aircraft "work with the Polish Baltic Air Policing F-16s in Siauliai, Lithuania and enhanced Air Policing Belgian F-16s in Amari, Estonia," the Allied Air Command said.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, joined NATO in 2004, and the airspace of the three countries has since been guarded by the alliance's jets, as the Baltic States do not have suitable aircraft for this purpose. The NATO jets guarding the Baltic airspace are located at Lithuania's Zokniai airfield near the city of Siauliai and at the Amari airbase. The latter became the additional site for the deployment of NATO aircraft in 2014.
