Wave of interceptions of Russian aircraft by Spanish fighters in Lithuania

The Spanish Eurofighters from Wing 11 deployed at Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania are having more work than expected.

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In early August, the Spanish Air Force deployed eight Eurofighter fighter jets (C-16, according to the Spanish designation) to the Lithuanian base, under the name Vilkas Detachment. This is a Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission with NATO, in which Spanish fighter jets are participating for the 12th time to provide support to three NATO member countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) that have very small air forces and no combat aircraft of their own. In mid-August, the Vilkas Detachment incorporated an A400M Atlas tanker aircraft from the 31st Wing (below), based in Zaragoza.

Yesterday, the Spanish Defense Staff (EMAD) reported the interceptions made by these fighters in recent weeks, indicating that "eight air policing missions have been carried out since the beginning of their deployment". The statement released by the EMAD indicates that in the entire month of August there were only three alarms that led to the same number of sorties by Spanish fighters "for track reconnaissance carried out over the Baltic."

However, so far this September there have already been five Alpha Scramble alarms, as the alarms to intercept unidentified aircraft are known in NATO, which fly with the transponder off, without communicating the flight plan or without responding to calls from air traffic control, practices that violate international aviation regulations and that Russian military aircraft have a habit of doing on their flights between Russia and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, bordering the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

According to EMAD, of those five alerts in September, three were about "traffic in the Baltic Sea" (i.e., Russian aircraft flying over international waters under the conditions described in the previous paragraph), and two others were about "traces corresponding to unconfirmed objects", specifically possible drones flying over land. These alerts are communicated by the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre-Uedem (CAOC-U), located in Germany.

The EMAD has indicated that on September 9 there were three Alpha Scramble alarms. The first was activated by "unidentified traffic coming from the Kaliningrad region and flying north, close to the sovereignty space of the Baltic republics." The Spanish fighters identified the aircraft as a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft, specifically an Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A, the RF-78672, operated by the Russian Air Force (above).

The second alarm on September 9 was activated by "traffic without a flight plan over the Gulf of Finland." The Spanish Eurofighters completed their mission successfully and recognized the aircraft in question as a Tupolev Tu-154 personnel transport aircraft, a photo of which has not been published by the EMAD. "Subsequently, the CAOC-U ordered to recognize unknown traffic in the same area, which turned out to be a surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, of Russian nationality, model Ilyushin IL-20." This aircraft was the RF-75931 (c/n 176011707), also operated by the Russian Air Force. We can see its photo above these lines. It is the same type of spy plane intercepted several times by USAF F-16s in the Alaskan ADIZ in August.

On September 10, the Vilkas Detachment received two Alpha Scrambles: "In the morning, by an unidentified object, with a flight profile similar to that of drones, over Lithuanian territory. In the evening, by another object that penetrated Latvian airspace. In both cases, contact with the objects was lost before the fighters reached the affected area," notes the EMAD. Let us remember that that same day Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine and several of them ended up penetrating Polish airspace, some being shot down by allied fighters.

Finally, the EMAD notes that "on the afternoon of September 13, the Spanish Eurofighters took off again to reconnoitre a track that, coming from Kaliningrad, had no communications with the air traffic control services. Once the recognition of the object was carried out, the C16s confirmed that it corresponded to the Russian TU-154 that appeared in the flight plan". The EMAD has not published any images of this aircraft, a three-engine model intended for passenger transport (for civil operators) and VIP transport (for military operators).

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Photos: Estado Mayor de la Defensa.