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| A member of the Romanian Air Force stands in formation saluting NATO officials during the NATO RAF certification ceremony on April 8, 2022, at Mihail Kogalniceanu (MK) Air Base, Romania. /Tech. Sgt. Maeson Elleman/52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs |
International Military - In the past 20 days, NATO has flown its planes four times from Romanian air bases to intercept Russian fighters heading for NATO territory along the Black Sea.
Although the Russian fighter jets were returned in safe condition, it poses a serious challenge to Moscow's military coalition. NATO members are known to devote more resources to strengthening their air defenses.
For example, the UK which on April 8, 2022 had deployed 2 Typhoon fighter jets, whereas previously it had sent 4 other fighter jets in Romania.
Quoted by the Eurasian Times on April 13, 2022 British Royal Air Force personnel are increasing the role of the NATO Air Police in the black sea area known as Operation BILOXI. An air policing handover ceremony at the Kogalniceanu (MK) air base was attended by American, Romanian and other NATO officials.
In this mission, NATO members conducted exercises involving various types of fighter jets such as 6 Eurofighter Typhoons, 8 Italian Typhoons, MiG-21 Lancers, and Romanian F-16s, as well as 6 United States F-16 fighter jets from the 480th fighter Squadron, at the Air Base. Spangdahlem Germany.
The formation that NATO does is a diamond formation where British Typhoons are in front, Italian Eurofighters in the back, Romanian F-16s on the wings flanked by US F-16s. This is referred to as a "tango scramble". The exercise serves as a symbol of NATO's readiness to protect its airspace with various capabilities.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many European countries have continued to increase their defenses and the US has helped strengthen NATO's defenses. A spokesman for the Vermont Air National Guard confirmed that members would be deployed to Europe in early May.
The Air National Guard was the first Air National Guard unit to base the F-15 Lightning II as home to the 158th Fighter Wing.
The deployment in early May was confirmed not because of the Ukraine conflict but as routine to continue the US commitment to train and operate with partners in the region.