Contents tagged with NATO
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Turkey may take the Incirlik Air Base from the USA
Ankara is questioning the presence of a coalition of forces, led by the United States, at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, as indicated by the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Veysi Kaynak, Reuters reports.
The question of the use of the military base by the U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces is on the agenda of the Turkish government as Ankara is disappointed with the lack of support for its operations in Syria.
Turkey began operations in Syria in August in order to move the ISIL militants …
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Media report that a NATO aircraft flew extremely close to a Russian airliner near the Kuril Islands
A military aircraft, presumably from a NATO country, approached a Russian passenger airliner which was flying from Sakhalin to the Kuril Islands. This was reported to Interfax by a source in law enforcement agencies.
"The night before last, the Russian Bombardier airliner departed from Sakhalin and, having ascended about six thousand meters, headed for the Kurils. However, the dispatchers detected an unidentified aircraft approaching the liner at the same altitude, which did not respond to …
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Dutch fighters began patrolling the skies over the Baltic as part of NATO mission
As of the 5th of January, F-16 fighter Falcons from the Netherlands Air Force began patrolling the air space of the NATO member Baltic States, as reported on the website of the Defense Ministry of Lithuania.
As reported in the statement, four aircraft from the air forces of the Netherlands, based at the airbase in Šiauliai, will replace French aircraft which patrolled the skies over the Baltic during the last four months. It is also reported that it is the third rotation of aircraft of the …
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NATO fighters made 110 flights from the Baltic states to escort Russian Air Force aircraft in 2016
Last year, NATO fighter jets stationed in Baltic countries scrambled 110 times to escort Russian military aircraft flying near the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as reported by postimees.ee, citing information from the Ministry of Defence of Lithuania. The activity of Russian aircraft still remains higher than before 2014.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Defense to the Baltic News Service, in 2013 NATO fighters scrambled 47 times, in 2014, 140 times, in 2015, about 160 …
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Lithuania called the militarization of Kaliningrad a challenge for NATO
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevičius, said in an interview with The Times that he considers the Russian military build-up in Kaliningrad a challenge for NATO.
Particularly, Linkevičius called on NATO to stop "Russian military hooliganism” stating that “the military build-up in Kaliningrad is a challenge for NATO."
Earlier, Lithuania stated that Russia is trying to limit the arrival of NATO allied ships to the Baltic States with the help of the new coastal missile complexes in …
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Lithuania is considering purchasing combat helicopters
The purchase of combat helicopters for the armed forces is being discussed in Lithuania, as was stated by Lithuanian Defense Minister, Raimundas Karoblis, 15min.lt reports.
"The discussions are ongoing. We have to admit that, as with the Land Forces, we have some gaps in the Special Operation Forces as well," Karoblis said.
At present, Lithuania has no combat helicopters. The Lithuanian Army has only five helicopters available: three AS365 helicopters and two Mi-8T’s. All of the Dauphin …
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US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham to visit Ukraine
Two Members of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, will visit Ukraine on December 30th and 31st, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
The two Republican Senators will also visit Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, and Montenegro.
Speaking in Estonia on Tuesday, McCain said US-NATO relations will not change once Donald Trump is sworn in as president.
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McCain called on NATO to tune in to Russia’s aggressive behavior
According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, John McCain, the election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States was a surprise, but this result will not affect the US - NATO relationship. According to McCain, who was speaking in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, NATO should prepare for Russia’s possibly aggressive behavior.
When he touched upon the issue of cyber security, he stated that, "there is no doubt that the Russians were engaged in hacking, but …
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Latvia to spend 10 million Euro on participation in international military operations
Servicemen from the National Armed Forces of Latvia will participate in the EU operation against pirates "Atalanta,” in the EU teaching mission in Mali, in the NATO training operation in Afghanistan "Resolute Support," in the EU naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea "Sophia," in military operations against ISIS in Iraq "Inherent Resolve," and in the operation to stabilize the situation in Mali under the auspices of the UN mission "Minusmam," Delfi reports.
Latvia has the most servicemen …
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Russian Defense Minister: Russia is capable of neutralizing NATO's Tomahawk missiles
The Russian air defense forces are capable of neutralizing Tomahawk cruise missiles that can be deployed along Russia’s western borders, stated the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu.
“The decision to develop the capability of neutralizing such threats, taken by you, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], has been fulfilled,” said Shoygu on Thursday while speaking at the Russian Ministry of Defense's board meeting attended by Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
According to …