Baltic Air Policing begins

What happened

With Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian accession, NATO takes on the policing of Baltic airspace. Allies with the necessary capabilities volunteer aircraft on a rotation that changes every four months; participating fighters have been based at Šiauliai in Lithuania since the mission's deployment.

This is the oldest continuously running NATO activity in the module and the reason three CAOCs, an air command and a set of host air bases appear in its Force Atlas. It is also the standing mechanism against which every later airspace event is read — and the case that teaches the module's hardest distinction, because NATO directs the mission while the contributing nations retain command of their own aircraft.

Confidence: High