NATO could transform the current mission monitoring airspace on its eastern flank into a complete defensive operation after repeated incursions by Russian drones and jets, a military officer said on Saturday.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, president of the 32 -member Alliance Military Committee, said after a meeting of personnel chiefs in Riga that such a decision could be an option once the investigations are undergoed.
He warned that it was still too early to fully assess what really happened during recent airspace violations.
The conversion of the current air police mission into an air defense mission could considerably strengthen NATO’s capacities on the eastern flank. New rules of engagement would likely facilitate the interception or slaughter of intruding planes.
The NATO countries gathered on Tuesday at the request of Estonia after three Russian mig-31 fighter planes stole through the Estonian airspace on the Baltic Sea for about 12 minutes. In a later declaration, the military alliance warned against potential force in response to new violations.
Warsaw had previously pointed out that Russian drones had entered the Polish airspace on September 9.
The NATO Baltic Air police mission has been in place since 2004, designed to protect the airspace from alliance partners in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia during peacetime. NATO members provide rotating hunting planes for the mission, because the Baltic States themselves have no appropriate planes.
A NATO flag flies in the wind in front of the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Anna Ross / DPA
