The NATO air policing mission in the Baltic countries should be replaced by rotational air defence, argues Dovilė Šakalienė, Lithuania’s minister of defence.
“We believe that it is time to move from air policing to air defence, which would require additional capabilities and a different concept. I presented Lithuania’s position that NATO should lead the air defence mission in our region, and I very much hope that the necessary measures will be taken if this becomes possible,” the minister said at a press conference on Thursday after a meeting with NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Alexus Grynkewich in Vilnius.
According to Šakalienė, Lithuania has prepared a position paper which will be discussed with the defence ministers of the other Baltic countries.
Agreed at the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023, the rotational air defence model aims to rotate allied air defence weapons in the Baltic states on a virtually permanent basis.
However, only two countries have contributed to this model in Lithuania so far. The Netherlands sent Patriot long-range air defence systems to the country in July 2024 and Italy deployed SAMP/T long-range ground-based air defence systems for a training exercise last February.
The NATO Baltic Air policing mission, carried out since 2004, is conducted from Lithuania and Estonia.
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