Hungary shows off its JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets flying alongside Spanish Eurofighters

At the end of July, Spain and Hungary assumed responsibility for the air defense of the Baltic states.

For the first time, German fighters will operate from Poland on a NATO BAP mission
The icy deployment of the Spanish EF-18 and A400M planes under the snow in Lithuania

On that day, the Spanish Air Force deployed eight Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from the 11th Wing to Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. This deployment is being carried out under the name of the Vilkas Detachment on a Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission with NATO. This is the 12th time that Spanish fighters have participated in this mission in the Baltic, to provide support to three NATO member countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) whose small air forces do not have their own combat aircraft. In August, Spain added an A400M Atlas tanker aircraft from the 31st Wing to that detachment, to provide support for the fighters.

Likewise, on July 31, Hungary deployed four JAS-39 Gripen fighters to the same Lithuanian base, also on a NATO BAP mission. It should be noted that each rotation of these BAP missions usually includes fighters from two different countries. This is the fourth time that the Hungarian Air Force has participated in this type of mission. The Hungarian JAS-39s deployed in Lithuania belong to the Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 101st Aviation Brigade "Dezső Szentgyörgyi", based in Kecskemét.

The aforementioned Hungarian brigade has published today a video of this deployment on its YouTube channel, showing different flights carried out by its Gripen fighters:

This video includes some very interesting footage. For the first time, we see the four Hungarian JAS-39 Gripens deployed in Šiauliai escorting two United States Air Force (USAF) B-1B Lancer strategic bombers, on a flight they made on August 19 over Riga, the capital of Latvia.

In the second part of the video, we see Hungarian Gripens flying alongside several Spanish Eurofighters. Three fighters from the 11th Wing can be seen. The images were recorded from the cockpit of one of the Hungarian fighters:

This is not the first time that Spanish and Hungarian fighters have coincided on a BAP mission. In 2019, 5 EF-18Ms from the 12th Wing were deployed on a BAP mission in Šiauliai, coinciding at the same base with 4 Hungarian Gripens. In 2020, I showed you here the images of a joint flight made by fighters from both countries.