KONINKLIJKE LUCHTMACHT F-16 MILITARY
The two BAP detachments report to the
Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem in
Germany. Martin said: “They have the overall
air picture and see what is recognised and
what not. They activate the QRA if necessary
and decide which QRA station should do the
intercept. The scramble procedure is exactly
the same as in all other NATO countries. We
do the intercept under guidance of the control
and reporting centre.” Because of the limited
training opportunities, pilots deploy to Šiauliai
for only three weeks. The crew chiefs also
return to their home base after that period.
The remainder of the supporting personnel
and the Detco stay for six weeks.
Base upgrade
Major Martin was part of the first Dutch
detachment to Lithuania in 2005. He
recognises the huge changes the air base
has undergone since: “Back then the runway
was largely inoperable. The length was not
the problem, but the quality was. Only the
first 1,500 feet were properly asphalt paved
and usable. The remainder consisted of the
concrete plates typical for Russian runways,
but that had not been properly maintained
by the Lithuanians since the Russians left in
the early 1990s and could not be used by
our F-16s. The elevation difference between
those plates was sometimes more than
100mm [4in]. Take-off was not a problem,
provided we flew without external fuel tanks
and with not more than two missiles; landing
was challenging! We had to pull our drag
’chute just before touchdown, and we had
to make sure that we were at taxi speed
when we reached the end of the asphalt.
Nowadays, the two runways are in excellent
condition. That allows us to fly the F-16s with
two external fuel tanks and four missiles.”
Major Martin also praises the facilities for
cold weather operations: “When it is below
25ºC with a strong wind blowing over the
base you really get to appreciate the fantastic
snow removal machines and warm shelters.”
Improvements have also been made to
the QRA sheds and operations building.
According to Col Matulaitis, many more
improvements are being made and more air
operations are planned. He said: “The air
base will definitely host more aircraft in the
future. We are developing this base, and a
lot of new infrastructure projects are going
on. There is a lot of money coming from
different sources, and starting this year, we
are building a new apron for the fighters, new
squadron operations building, repairing a lot of
taxiways and upgrading both runways. By the
end of this year, we will have totally different
capabilities and a much bigger capacity.”Appreciated
In 1990, Lithuania declared independence
from Russia, which had occupied the country
since World War Two. There is a general fear
that Russia will try to take it back. Major
Martin acknowledged the local population’s
appreciation for NATO’s efforts. He said:
“Recently, I attended the commemoration
of independence from Russia, and you
hear they are glad we are here. The period
of occupation and suppression is still fresh
in their minds. They realise that freedom
cannot be taken for granted as it is in the
Netherlands. Appreciation of NATO’s efforts isalso shown by the many school classes and
other Lithuanians such as military people that
visit us. They see that NATO cares about the
Baltic States.”
Colonel Matulaitis endorses the words
of Major Martin: “Of course, it is really nice
that the Dutch and other NATO countries
come here to protect us. We are not able to
perform air police missions over our territories
ourselves. When Lithuania joined NATO in
2004 a new task emerged for us: to host the
air policing detachments that come to our
country on a rotational basis. We rely on our
allies, and we have been hosting this mission
since joining NATO. We have had 17 nations
participating in this mission so far. We are
really glad to have them here. It shows the
solidarity of the NATO community.”
Matulaitis said that at the beginning the
local population complained about the noise.
“The Lithuanian Air Force didn’t have such
noisy aircraft. The people had forgotten what
real fighters sounded like. That was at the
beginning, but right now, everything has
changed. I haven’t had any noise complaints
recently. The people understand that this
mission, done by our NATO allies, is important
to the sovereignty of our airspace. The locals
like to see the fighters in the sky and ask the
detachments to perform low fly-bys during
national celebrations. I personally like the sound
of jet engines. In my opinion, there should be a
lot of flights and noise at the airfield; otherwise
the base will become a ghost base.”An assured future
QRA in Lithuania is scheduled to remain for
many years. According to Colonel Matulaitis,
the country has no plans for the acquisition
of its own fighter aircraft: “We are a small
country with a limited budget, so priority
is being given to the army at the moment.
We are trying to maintain a small L-39 fleet
that provides training for fighter controllers
and joint terminal attack controllers. It helps
us to train our pilots, and to develop the
fundamentals for the future air force. The
upgrade of our helicopter fleet to western
types is on the short-term planning list,
and after that we will see.”A crew chief raises his arm holding a safety pin to show the pilot the pin has been removed from the aircraft.