Olekas stated his opinion to BNS when asked about when the air-policing mission rotation would be settled on the political level. The issue has been coming up often on the Baltic military cooperation agenda amid Estonia's active efforts to have at least one of the three shifts per year to be moved to the Amari base in Estonia from Lithuania's Šiauliai.
"I think that we will return to the matter in the course of this year and have a discussion. However, even during this meeting it was reiterated - and the Estonians stressed this in connection to cyber security centers, the secretary general spoke about this in general - that if we have reached an agreement and have achieved well-appraised results, we should keep it and seek some progress in new areas. I believe this goes for the air-policing mission, too," Olekas said after a two-day session of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
In his words, the rotation of the air-policing mission is currently being addressed "on the working level."
"During the ministerial meeting today, we stated one fact – the air-policing mission is indeed a good example of smart defense when various countries perform a key function in protecting NATO skies. As NATO forces have enough fighter-jets, other (members) do not need to buy them additionally. Everyone's satisfied that the conditions at Šiauliai airport are good and keep improving, substantial investments are being made," the head of the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said.
Lithuania and other Baltic states don't have air-policing capacities, therefore, the function of rapid response air forces has been carried out by troops from other NATO member states on three-month rotation. Airmen from the Alliance's 14 countries have already served in the mission in Lithuania.
Estonia seeks future rotation of the air-policing mission, saying NATO fighter jets should not only land in Lithuania but also in the Estonian base of Amari. Lithuania, in its turn, wants its Air Force Base in Šiauliai to keep its status as the main and permanent place of deployment. The third Baltic state of Latvia supports the Lithuanian position.
The Baltic skies are now patrolled by aviators from the Danish Air Force.
