In a new episode in the Baltic Sea region, Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighters, as part of their Air Policing Mission, conducted the interception of two aircraft from the Russian Aerospace Forces. This new incident was reported by NATO’s Air Command, adding to the long list of similar episodes recorded between combat aircraft of NATO members and Russian forces.
Currently, since April 1st, fighters from the Portuguese Air Force, along with those from the Spanish Air and Space Army, have been operating from Šiauliai Air Base located in Lithuania as part of their participation in Air Policing Missions. The Portuguese detachment consists of F-16 combat aircraft, while the Spanish one comprises E/F-18 Hornet fighters. The presence of Portuguese and Spanish personnel will extend until the end of next July.
This presence of Iberian forces is reinforced by Eurofighter fighters from the German Air Force stationed in Latvia, along with air defense batteries composed of Spanish NASAMS systems in the same country, as well as in Lithuania.
Regarding the recent episode between Portuguese F-16 fighters and Russian aircraft, this was reported on April 16th when the presence of these aircraft was detected on the radars of the Combined Air Operations Center located in Uedem, Germany, prompting the deployment of the combat aircraft. This marked the first deployment of the Portuguese Air Force since the arrival of this new detachment on April 1st.
According to the information available, two aircraft from the Russian Armed Forces were involved, which were conducting navigation in international airspace without a reported flight plan: an Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane and a specialized version of the Ilyushin Il-20, presumably for signals intelligence collection (SIGINT). The F-16s escorted both aircraft until they approached the airspace of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
You may also like: UAC delivered first batch of 2024 Su-35S fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces
