On Thursday evening, NATO Command in Europe issued an order to intercept Su-24 of the Russian Federation," said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz at a press conference. “The plane was doing dangerous maneuvers, our work couple located it, intercepted it and effectively deterred it.”
The event took place on the Baltic Sea, over global waters. – Soldiers from Polish quota in Lithuania – said Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish. 4 Polish F-16 multitasking aircraft are presently stationed in the military base in Saul, as part of the Air Police mission. They defender the skies over the Baltic States, which do not have their own hunting aviation. In addition to regular flights, on-call pairs are raised to intercept aircraft that breach airspace or travel internationally contrary to its rules of use. In the second case, it is primarily flights with or without a complex flight plan.
Rash of aggressive behavior
Coordination of combat work and management Alpha Scramble and training (Tango Scramble) takes care of the CAOC (Combined Air Operation Centre) operating center in the German Uedem. That's where our F-16 came from Thursday night. The work of the work couple is to scope an unidentified device located close NATO territory. Typically, specified interventions concern Russian aircraft flying to or from the Kölvetsky Oblast. This was the case in Su-24.
The Russians have for years ignored the work to submit flight plans and decision with the transponder on. Military radars inactive see them, but for civilian systems they stay invisible. And this poses a possible threat to air traffic. Therefore, the essence of the interception is to arrive close the Russian device and proceed to fly in its company until you leave the area of responsibility. During this time, the pair of on-call transponders, in a kind of replacement, indicate the location of the ‘unseen’ aircraft.
Up to the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, interceptions were not accompanied by aggressive behaviour. After February 24, 2022, the Russians regularly execute dangerous maneuvers close Natovian machinery.
Consistent maneuvers of the Russian Federation
During today's conference, the head of the MON besides reported on the completion of the mission of the ORP "Hewelius". Let us remind you, the hydrographic unit was sent to check the seabed in the area where the power cable connecting Poland and Sweden runs. This area had previously seen suspicious tanker maneuvers from the Russian "shadow float".
– Now, together with experts from the Polish Energy Network, an analysis of the collected material will be carried out – the Deputy Prime Minister announced. According to Kosiniak-Kamish, these 2 events are an example of how “essential” and “dangerous” the Baltic area is. “Fighting enemy maneuvers is simply a task for the full Alliance,” he argued. – All these events in fresh months, broken cables, (...) maneuvers over Gotland, all this shows how elusive the actions of the Russian Federation are. These actions are taken to provoke us – he assessed.
