German Eurofighter jets intercepted four Russian Il-20 Coot electronic intelligence aircraft over the Baltics last week, according to a statement from the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe.
The Bundeswehr confirmed that the German fighter jets intercepted Russian surveillance Planealong the Estonian-Russian border on December 5.
“NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission tracked a Russian IL-20 Coot in international airspace north of Estonia, which was flying from Russia towards Kaliningrad and was not emitting a transponder signal,” the Luftwaffe said in a statement.
The Luftwaffe has protected the airspace of the Baltic nations Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia for the past two months as part of a rotating deployment by NATO members.
The Baltic Air Policing mission was established in 2004, to assist Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who have no airborne air defense capability of their own and was extended indefinitely in February 2012. The aim of the mission is to prevent unauthorised incursion into the airspace of the Baltic states and its most frequent duty is intercepting Russian aircraft and escorting them from the area. To the west of the Baltic states’ airspace is an air corridor often used by aircraft travelling to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad from territorial Russia.
Die Alarmrotte des 🇩🇪 EinsKtgt zur Verstärkung des @NATO #VAPB identifizierte ein 🇷🇺 Militär-Flugzeug vom Typ IL-20 COOT A im internationalen Luftraum nördlich 🇪🇪, welches vom russischen Kernland in Richtung Kaliningrad flog und kein Transpondersignal abstrahlte. pic.twitter.com/QPo1SyYODb
— Team_Luftwaffe (@Team_Luftwaffe) December 7, 2020