On Tuesday, the 11th of July, Baltic States’ ministers of defence signed a joint declaration, affirming commitment to “making air space accessible to NATO deterrence activities, training and exercises”.
The press office of Latvian Ministry of Defence reports that the Defence Ministers of the Baltic States, by signing this declaration, highlight the achievements made so far in the implementation of the Military Airspace Bloc concept, which already allows NATO to use large volumes of regionally interconnected airspace for NATO deterrence activities and large-scale training.
“According to reports from the Russian-Ukrainian war, anti-air defence is a decisive factor in keeping civilians, military and civilian infrastructure safe. This is why Baltic States are performing investments into the development of their anti-air defence capabilities, while also enhancing mutual cooperation to ensure the security of Baltic air space.
Our commitment to making the Baltic airspace more accessible is a clear signal of Latvia’s, Estonia’s and Lithuania’s readiness to contribute and ensure the necessary infrastructure and host countries’ support to our allies’ anti-air defence units to further enhance NATO’s deterrence activities in the region,” stresses Latvian Minister of Defence Ināra Mūrniece.
According to the declaration, the Baltic States will contribute to the implementation of NATO’s rotating presence model by providing host country support, which was approved by NATO defence ministers in Brussels on the 16th of June. It provides for a rotating presence of air and missile defense, as well as aviation units as a priority on NATO’s eastern flank, Baltic States included. The introduction of a rotating presence model will enhance the interoperability of allied forces and strengthen NATO’s deterrence capabilities.
In response to the requirement to enhance Baltic region’s defensive capabilities after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia deployed NASAMS surface-to-air missile system from Spain at Lielvārde air force base in June 2022.
By investing into defensive capabilities, Baltic ministers of defence decided as host countries in May 2023 to provide support to NATO allies that perform patrols of Baltic air space. Countries signed a new joint agreement on sharing the costs of NATO air patrol mission.
As previously reported, in 2024 Latvia’s Lielvārde air force base will be hosting NATO air patrol mission from Germany. This will continue for the duration of the renovation of Estonia’s Amari air force base.
This means there will be more allied military jets in Latvian skies than usual.
Although until now Lielvārde air force base was not used specifically to host NATO air space patrol mission, it does meet all NATO standards.
Additionally, Latvia and Estonia have plans for a joint procurement of medium-range anti-missile defence system IRIS-T in order to further enhance the security of Latvian territory, civilian and military infrastructure.
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