Updated Estonia Air Operations Control Centers launched in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. This was reported by the Estonian Public Broadcasting Corporation ЕЕR. The modernization is taking place as part of the Baltic airspace monitoring system BALTNET, which is integrated into the NATO air defense system.
At the opening ceremony of the center at Emari airbase near Tallinn, Estonian Minister of Defense Juri Luik said that the country had the opportunity to continue to improve its defense capabilities.
“As of today, all three Baltic states have the opportunity to control both their airspace and regions. It’s important to emphasize that the new center helps us integrate into the relevant NATO air and missile defense systems, ”Luika quoted Interfax as saying.
The creation of BALTNET began in the mid-1990s with the goal of integrating the Baltic republics into NATO structures. The monitoring system consists of a network of radar stations (radar), communication and control systems. The project is financially supported by the United States.
All information received in the Baltic States flows to the NATO Joint Air Operations Center at the German air base in Ramstein, where the US Air Force is deployed.
At the end of October 2019, at a meeting in Brussels, the heads of the Ministry of Defense of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, at the request of the alliance leadership, signed an agreement on changing BALTNET. From January 2020, the control tasks for the airspace of the region will be carried out in rotation mode by the respective centers in each of the three republics. Previously, this function was performed by a unit in the Lithuanian city of Carmelava.
The authorities of the Baltic republics justified the need to modernize the regional air defense system, including the “Russian threat”. So, in December 2019, the Baltic Council of Ministers and the Baltic Assembly (advisory bodies for cooperation between the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) announced the need to improve their own air defense due to the fact that Russia allegedly “increases its military presence” and “places additional funds ”at the borders of their countries.
At the moment, the armies of three states are deprived of modern air defense systems. The main reason for this state of affairs, as Juri Luik admitted, is the lack of money.
For example, the Estonian Armed Forces have not yet refused to use the Soviet ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns, despite the import of Western systems. Since 2007, Tallinn has been purchasing Mistral portable air defense systems. In 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Estonia signed another contract with the European company MBDA for the supply of these weapons. However, these air defense systems are capable of hitting targets only at ranges of up to 6 km.
In the coming years, Lithuania may become the only owner of a medium-range air defense system in the region. In 2017, Vilnius signed a contract with Norway for the supply of NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) mobile systems for $ 122.4 million. The radius of the system is 40 km, the damage height is 14 km. However, NASAMS, developed in the first half of the 1990s, is considered far from the most advanced air defense system.
Washington provides financial assistance to the Baltic republics in strengthening air defense. True, the amount of funds allocated for the needs of air defense is small: as Luik previously reported, in 2020 Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia will receive a total of $ 50 million from the Pentagon budget.
- Estonian military
- © kaitseministeerium.ee
In a conversation with RT, Vadim Kozyulin, a professor at the Academy of Military Sciences and a senior fellow at the Center for Political Studies of Russia, noted that the United States is generally interested in developing the air defense system of the Baltic region, but is not ready to invest substantial financial resources in it. For this reason, BALTNET “does not constitute a serious force” or a threat to the Russian Federation.
“The air defense, especially the echelon, is a very expensive pleasure. Despite a significant increase in the military budgets of the Baltic countries, they cannot afford to buy modern anti-aircraft systems, and the Western “partners” do not show a desire to rearm the republics with their own money, ”said Kozyulin.
“Baltic patrol”
In a conversation with RT, retired colonel Mikhail Khodarenok announced the extremely low combat efficiency of the armed forces of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. According to him, in the Baltic republics there are virtually no combat units and military command and control bodies.
“Nevertheless, this does not prevent local officials from regularly making loud statements about their readiness to repulse the eastern neighbor,” Khodarenok said.
According to the portal Global Firepower, which is engaged in the assessment of military power, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are practically deprived of heavy military equipment, as well as fighter aircraft, which is an essential element of an air defense system along with radar and air defense systems. In the ranking of the world's strongest armies, the armed forces of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are below the 100th line.
The Baltic republics rely mainly on the armed forces of NATO allies. Since 2004, the airspace of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia on a rotational basis patrol the aircraft of the alliance. In 2012, the mission of the military bloc called Baltic Air Policing was extended indefinitely.
In 2014, the NATO Air Force increased the number of basing points due to the Estonian airfield in Emari. Fighters of Great Britain, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Spain and other countries participate in the protection of the sky over the Baltic countries.
In addition, the North Atlantic Alliance regularly conducts air force exercises in areas that, inter alia, border Russia. At the end of October, US strategic V-52 aircraft conducted training bombing at a Lithuanian training ground near the city of Kazlu Ruda, 60 km from the border with the Kaliningrad region.
“The purpose of the exercises, which once again demonstrated that Lithuania and the region as a whole are the focus of attention of NATO and the USA, was to familiarize themselves with the new geographical territory for the allies, which in the event of a crisis will need to provide air cover,” commented Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis on the air of the radio station Ziniu radijas.
The leadership of the Baltic states advocates an increase in the military presence of the Western allies. In particular, in September, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda lamented the insufficient number of NATO troops in the region to repel the Russian attack.
- Emari airbase in Estonia
- © kaitseministeerium.ee
Moscow considers the military scenarios of the Baltic authorities absurd. Earlier in an interview with Bloomberg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “references to threats from Russia in relation to, say, the Baltic states are complete nonsense.”
From Moscow’s point of view, the fanning of the myth of “Russian aggression” is necessary for the West to justify the building up of the alliance’s military presence in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry believes that NATO’s military activity in the region and other locations only provokes an increase in tension in relations with the Russian Federation.
“In the Baltic countries and Poland, in the waters of the Black and Baltic Seas, military activity is intensifying, the intensity of military exercises of the bloc is increasing. Their scenarios indicate a targeted preparation of NATO to deploy its troops in a large-scale military conflict, ”said Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in an interview with the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
Vadim Kozyulin is sure that the leadership of the Baltic states is making a big mistake, in fact renouncing sovereignty. In his opinion, the “senior partners” of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are not going to be responsible for the security of the republics.
“I really hope that the Baltic States will not turn into a theater of war, but the policy of the regional authorities provokes an obvious increase in military-political tension,” summed up Kozyulin.