NATO military planners were planning to move hundreds of fighter planes and surveillance aircraft into the skies around Russia and Ukraine as Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine escalated early this year. It was a warning to Moscow that it should not target any member country.
Politicians and commentators were split in the weeks leading up to the conflict about whether President Vladimir Putin would actually order Russian soldiers to enter. However, from a military standpoint, the forces stationed surrounding Ukraine looked to be prepared to accomplish precisely that.
To secure the alliance’s eastern flank, additional eyes in the sky were needed, as well as a tighter communication between NATO aircraft, warships, ground-based missile systems, and radar sites.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that, “we are monitoring very closely,” further added that, “information, best viable awareness, is of course immensely critical in such a risky situation as we see in Ukraine now.”
A few dozen military staff now concurrently manage up to 30 aircraft in skies from the northern tip or Norway down to Slovakia. In the lead-up to the Feb 24 capture, the alliance’s Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, western Germany, shifted gear.
On any one day, more than 100 aircraft may be in the air, amidst the nearly 30,000 civilian flights that pass over European skies every day.
Six Boeing E-3A surveillance planes from NATO’s ageing inventory of early warning and control aircraft contribute to the creation of a “air picture” that member countries can see. These “eyes in the sky” do not fly into Ukraine or Russia, but they can see across borders for up to 400 kilometers (250 miles).
Fighter planes also offer intelligence on what is happening inside two warring countries. These “assets” are occasionally dispatched from as far as western France, refueled mid-flight, and able to patrol for roughly an hour in the border region before returning.
Last month, an unmanned military drone flew uncontrollably out of Ukraine and into the airspace of three NATO allies – Romania, Hungary, and Croatia – before crashing near Zagreb, Croatia. Although some parked automobiles were destroyed, no one was injured.
The weight of drone was just over 6 tons. Russia and Ukraine denied to launch it. NATO officials and military officers refused to remark on the occurrence until an inquiry is concluded.
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