AirForces Monthly – July 2018

Base improvements

NATO and the Lithuanian government have

invested heavily in the infrastructure at Šiauliai.

In 2012, NATO contributed €7m to modernise

the airfield. The money was spent on a range

of new additions including four QRA shelters,

aprons and in 2013 a headquarters building

was opened inside the QRA area, where pilots,

technicians and support staff work during their

deployment. Investments have also been made

in other areas including a munitions storehouse

and updated firefighting and snow-clearing

equipment. Each of the three Baltic States

contributes €3.5m a year to help cover the

running costs of maintaining the air bases, and

the expenses associated with the deployments.

Continuous training is necessary to ensure

the safe and professional conduct of the

BAP mission. To standardise training across

member nations deploying to Šiauliai or

Ämari, Headquarters Allied Air Command

Ramstein (HQ AIRCOM) introduced a series

of exercises – the Baltic Region Training

Events – now known as Ramstein Alloy. The

purpose of these manoeuvres is not only

to ensure that experienced pilots deploy

to Šiauliai and Ämari, but also to provide

high-level training for Estonian, Latvian and

Lithuanian air forces and control facilities.

To determine which NATO nation will be

deployed to fly the BAP mission, each member

submits to NATO the periods in which they

will be able to deploy air assets. The NATO

headquarters then allocates slots to ensure a

continuous policing of the Baltic airspace.

RDAF rotations

The RDAF has been an active player in the

BAP mission from the start, having operated

fighters and personnel from both air bases.

The Danish rotation at Šiauliai from January

8 to April 30 this year was the fifth made to

the Lithuanian base and one deployment has

also been made to Ämari. The RDAF took

the role as lead nation, while the Aeronautica

Militare (Italian Air Force) deployed four

Eurofighters to Ämari as the support nation,

covering the northern part of the Baltic area.

The RDAF detachment consisted of around

55 people, including pilots, ground crews,

administrative staff, security personnel and

other support roles. This is a small contingent

compared with some other NATO countries

that might deploy more than 100. The RDAF

unit is comparatively small because most

of the deployed personnel perform more

than one task, reducing overall manpower

demands. Of the deployed team, five were

pilots, one of whom acted as commander.

As with most nations, the RDAF brought

with it the majority of the support equipment

needed to operate out of Šiauliai. This

included spare parts, fuel trucks and other

vehicles. Mission-critical parts were flown in,

while other items were driven from Denmark

by truck. Larger vehicles, including fuel

bowsers, came to Lithuania by ship.

Over the years the RDAF has developed a

healthy working relationship with the Lithuanians.

Lt Col ‘STI’ explained: “The Lithuanians are very

friendly. Their word is their bond and there are

no limits to what they will do to assist. There is

a huge amount of experience at the base, and

everything would have been ‘business as usual’

if it wasn’t for the major reconstruction of the

base at the moment, which means everyone

has to be on their toes to avoid FOD [foreign

object debris] damage to taxiing aircraft.”

Alphas and Tangos

While stationed in Lithuania, the four

Danish F-16s were parked in the new

shelters and kept on 24/7 alert status, with

two aircraft acting as primary aircraft and

two as spares. The maintenance crew’s

facilities were in nearby buildings, from

where they were able to reach the shelters

within minutes of the alarm sounding.

Two pilots were on constant alert inside the

headquarters building, always wearing their flight

suits – plus rubber immersion suits in the winter

months. If the klaxon sounded, the aircrew ran

to a waiting van, which took them to their aircraft.

BAP alert aircraft fly two types of missions:

Alpha scrambles and Tango scrambles. Alpha

scrambles are the ‘real deal’, flown when

unidentified aircraft approach or enter the

airspace of one of the three Baltic countries.

These are typically Russian transports that

have either failed to submit a flight plan or

are diverting from their submitted plan. A

Tango scramble is a training sortie flown

once a day to ensure that every link in the

alert chain is functioning as it should.

For QRA missions over Danish territory, the

F-16 is armed with a full drum of 20mm cannon

ammunition, two AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-

air missiles on the wing tips and two 370-gal

(1,682-lit) fuel tanks under the wings. However,

when flying over the Baltics the Danish jets

are configured with two AIM-120C AMRAAMs

on the wing-tip launch rails, two AIM-9Ms on

the outer underwing pylons, two 370-gal tanks

under the wing and a Litening targeting pod

mounted on the right side of the air intake.

The Danish detachment completed its

deployment to Šiauliai on April 30 and the

mission was assumed by four Força Aérea

Portuguesa (Portuguese Air Force) F-16AMs.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to RDAF personnel for their help

with this article.

AFM

With two jets acting as the primary QRA aircraft, the other two were on standby as spares in case one of

the primary jets developed a fault.

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 79