21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS
21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS AIR POWER 2017 49
NATO’s Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission has been securing the skies over
the Baltic States and its north-eastern flank since April 2004, and the
UK has played a key role alongside 16 other NATO allies in supporting
the mission and its Baltic partners. Mike Bryant talks to Wing
Commander Gordon Melville about the importance of this activity
IN DEFENCE OF NATO
W
ing Commander (Wg Cdr) Gordon
Melville, commanding officer of
the RAF’s 140 Expeditionary Air
Wing, considers the importance
of the BAP mission to NATO from the RAF’s
point of view. “NATO has got to be unified and
mutually supporting,” he says. “It has got to
secure both its land borders and its airspace, and
the Baltic mission plays a very important role in
that. We need to investigate any unidentified
airspace encroachments very quickly and
to have that defensive posture in place.”
The strength of the UK’s commitment to the
mission is reflected in the fact that for three consecutive
summers – between 2014 and 2016 – the RAF has
deployed Typhoons and personnel to the mission,
on the first occasion to Lithuania and then twice to
Estonia. Looking back at those last two visits,
Wg Cdr Melville observes, “Estonia has provided
fantastic support for us, as well as excellent facilities.”
While some NATO allies deployed to Estonia as
part of the mission have chosen to stay in hotels in
the capital, Tallinn, the RAF opted to stay on the
Amari Air Base. “That suits us best,” says Wg Cdr Melville.
“We can still go into Tallinn for rest and recuperation.”
While the spotlight has certainly focused more
intently on the BAP mission in the light of growing
tension between NATO and Russia in recent years,
the inherent nature of the task – to investigate any
non-compliant flights into Baltic State airspace
through a rapid interceptor response – hasn’t changed
since 2004, and Wg Cdr Melville doesn’t envisage
it changing in the foreseeable future either.
What is clear is the need for the NATO presence,
and the frequency of its rapid response. During
the RAF’s most recent four-month deployment
Royal Air Force
Typhoons, pictured
here at Amari
Airfield in Estonia,
have participated in
the NATO Baltic Air
Patrol mission since
2004 (PHOTO: G VAGULA)
