{"id":21910,"date":"2019-07-18T17:14:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T17:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/18\/royal-air-force-charts-a-rise-in-russian-activity-around-baltic-states\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:59:24","slug":"royal-air-force-charts-a-rise-in-russian-activity-around-baltic-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/a-modern-nato\/2019\/07\/18\/royal-air-force-charts-a-rise-in-russian-activity-around-baltic-states\/","title":{"rendered":"British Air Force charts a rise in Russian activity around Baltic states"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia, and LONDON \u2014 The British Royal Air Force is noting an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2018\/07\/27\/nato-intercepted-a-russian-plane-over-the-black-sea-yesterday-but-us-f-15s-in-romania-will-be-sticking-to-their-training-mission\/\" target=\"_blank\">increase of air activity by Russia<\/a> as the service conducts NATO\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/07\/15\/do-the-baltics-need-more-us-military-support-to-deter-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\">Baltic air-policing mission<\/a> this summer. However, pilots on the ground in Estonia report that the intercepts remain safe and professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four Eurofighter Typhoons from the RAF\u2019s 11 Squadron <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2019\/07\/15\/estonian-defense-policy-official-on-alliance-relations-and-russian-stability\/\" target=_blank>arrived at Amari Air Base<\/a> on April 24 for the four-month NATO mission. Since then, the pace of operations has been high, said Air Chief Marshal Stephen Hillier, the RAF\u2019s chief of the air staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor anyone that had any doubt about the levels of activities we are facing, note that since arriving in Estonia \u2026 our Typhoons have already scrambled 13 times in response to Russian activity over the Baltic Sea \u2014 many more times than in the whole of our last deployment there in 2016,\u201d he said July 17 during the Air and Space Power Conference in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/a-modern-nato\/2019\/07\/17\/outgoing-estonian-air-chief-nato-needs-to-improve-its-response-time\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5586153.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Outgoing Estonian air chief: NATO needs to improve its response time<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Estonia is confident NATO will react to a threat, but how quickly?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest RAF scramble occurred June 29, when two Typhoons were launched to intercept two Su-27 fighters and one Il-22 \u201cCoot,\u201d the nickname given to a Russian transport plane when configured as an aerial command post or reconnaissance asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe event passed without incident,\u201d said Squadron Leader Darren Scales, the media officer for the the 121st Expeditionary Air Wing, which is conducting the air-policing mission in Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest intercept follows back-to-back events June 14 and 15, when the Typhoons scrambled to intercept a Russian Su-30 fighter aircraft and later a Su-30 with an Il-76 transport aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re doing, about average, three a week, which is about what we were expecting,\u201d Wing Commander David Boreham, commanding officer of the 121st, told Defense News during the Amari Airshow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the Baltic nations \u2014 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania \u2014 have small air forces, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2019\/05\/24\/estonia-signs-defense-agreement-with-us\/\" target=_blank>NATO deploys fighter jets to the region <\/a>to conduct routine air policing of those countries\u2019 respective airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Typhoons conducting the Baltic air-policing mission are on \u201cquick reaction alert,\u201d or QRA, which requires a heightened state of readiness so jets can scramble \u201cwithin minutes\u201d of notification by an air operations center to launch, Boreham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThen we will be vectored, told to fly to this location where the aircraft are, and then there\u2019s a procedure for coming up alongside an aircraft,\u201d he said. \u201cWe professionally and safely intercept that aircraft in a way that is understood by all parties. Then we will stay in a safe and comfortable position until that aircraft has left the region. There\u2019s no aggression with it. It\u2019s very professional on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2019\/07\/15\/the-us-air-forces-top-general-gets-a-taste-of-finnish-fighter-tactics\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_0848.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The US Air Force\u2019s top general gets a taste of Finnish fighter tactics<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein got up to speed on the Finnish Air Force&#039;s newest capabilities before getting to see some of them in action.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the encounter, the Typhoons remain in contact with the Estonian air control facility on Amari Air Base, where Estonian personnel control the aircraft and pass on information to the air operations center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The RAF Typhoons alternate Baltic air-policing duties with Spanish F\/A-18 and Hungarian Gripen fighters based on \u0160iauliai Air Base in Lithuania. But during an \u201con week,\u201d pilots remain on QRA, even if they have other engagements, as 121st did this weekend when it participated in the Amari Airshow, Boreham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to reporters July 17, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein acknowledged a rise in Russian activity near the Baltic states, but said that all parties continue to abide by the basic rules of aerial engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat we\u2019ve got to make sure that we don\u2019t allow happen is for that professionalism to start degrading in any way, shape or form,\u201d he said. \u201cThe good news is we\u2019ve been doing this for Russian air forces for over 50 years, and I\u2019m one that wants to make sure that we can continue to do this for the next 50 years because we hold ourselves to a high standard as two professional air forces. And I would say the same thing about the Chinese air force.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There have been 13 intercepts with Russian planes since British Typhoons arrived in Estonia in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":104,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column","home"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"}}},"categories":[104,7,160,46,11,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-21910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-modern-nato","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"J4W73BWZ4NFPHMYYH52W3A46HM","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/a-modern-nato\/2019\/07\/18\/royal-air-force-charts-a-rise-in-russian-activity-around-baltic-states\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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