US Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II jets arrived in Estonia’s Amari air base on Tuesday.
According to the information received by the ERR online media outlet, the jets remained in the Baltic country for several weeks and in that time will carry out training flights with other US and allied forces’ aircraft. Estonia, a former Soviet republic, shares an almost 200-mile-long border with Russia.
F-35s will also deploy to Romania, another current NATO member and former Warsaw Pact ally of the Soviet Union, the official said.
Both Estonia and Romania are wary of Russian aggression following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. The official said the F-35A deployment to Europe is part of the European Reassurance Initiative set up in the wake of that annexation.
