UEDEM, Germany: As russian army Construction near Ukraine intensified earlier this year, with military planners in NATO beginning preparations to send fighter jets and surveillance aircraft into the skies near Russia and Ukraine. It was a warning to Moscow not to make the mistake of targeting any member state.
Even in the weeks before the war, politicians and analysts were divided over whether the President Vladimir Putin will actually order Russian soldier to invade. From a military standpoint, however, the forces deployed around Ukraine were designed to do just that.
It became an urgent thing to put more eyes in the sky and tie tightly NATO aircraftWarships, ground-based missile systems and radar installations to defend the eastern side of the alliance.
“We are monitoring very closely,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week. “Information, the best possible situational awareness, is of course extremely important in such a dangerous situation as we see in Ukraine right now.”
In the lead-up to the February 24 offensive, the Coalition’s Joint Air Operations Center at Udem, West Germany, shifted gear. A few dozen military personnel now simultaneously manage 30 aircraft in the skies from the northern tip of Norway to Slovakia.
From an underground bunker in a quiet farm, patrol planes are diverted to monitor suspected Russian planes. On 15-minute standby the jets routinely “alpha scramble” to intercept unidentified aircraft from across Europe near NATO airspace.
There may be upwards of 100 aircraft operating on any given day, which blends into the approximately 30,000 civilian flights made daily through European skies.
Six Boeing E-3A surveillance aircraft from NATO’s aging warning and control aircraft help create an “aerial picture” to be shared with member states. These “eyes in the sky” do not fly over Ukraine or Russia, but can see up to 400 kilometers (250 mi) across borders.
Fighter jets also provide information about what is going on inside the two countries at war. These “assets” are sometimes flown from as far away as western France, refueled in mid-air, and can patrol the border area for about an hour before they must return.
The 30-nation military alliance is wary of engaging in an extensive war with Russia, so borders and airspace are respected.
Major General Harold Van Pee, commander of the NATO facility in Udem, said: “There is always a fog of war, and we don’t want to keep NATO assets close by because you could inadvertently do some damage.”
The areas most vulnerable to unknown planes are the Kola Peninsula _ on the high northern borders of Russia and Norway _ the Gulf of Finland near the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, and the skies around Kaliningrad, Russia, sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland.
From their computer screens, NATO personnel can also track cruise missiles, such as those used by Russia last month to pound a military training base in western Ukraine near NATO member Poland, which killed 35.
But shielding them from aircraft is a high-risk endeavor, especially at night, in bad weather or when missiles hit the ground, flying so low that electric pylons and cables become a threat. “We have to be convinced there is a credible threat,” Van Pee said.
A less obvious challenge to NATO airspace is rogue drones. Military officials said Russia is using powerful electromagnetic devices to jam communications that could disrupt remotely controlled flights.
Last month, a military drone flew out of Ukraine uncontrollably through the airspace of three members – Romania, Hungary and Croatia – before crashing in the Croatian capital. Some parked cars were damaged but no one was hurt.
The drone weighed just over 6 tons. Both Russia and Ukraine denied launching it. Military officials and NATO officials declined to comment on the incident until the investigation was completed.
“Even if you fly with one of those drones, are you going to do something about it? You have to ask yourself, because if you shoot it down you’re definitely Going to do damage on land. If you let it fly, expect it to crash in the ocean. I mean, you don’t know,” Van Pei said.
Whether it’s a rogue drone or a missile threat, political and legal experts must be involved in any decision to shoot something down. Despite the war in its backyard, NATO operates under strict peacetime rules and is determined to keep it that way.
“Before you start using force, there must be an imminent threat to NATO forces or the NATO population. It is a judgment call, and it is always difficult,” Van Pee said.
Even in the weeks before the war, politicians and analysts were divided over whether the President Vladimir Putin will actually order Russian soldier to invade. From a military standpoint, however, the forces deployed around Ukraine were designed to do just that.
It became an urgent thing to put more eyes in the sky and tie tightly NATO aircraftWarships, ground-based missile systems and radar installations to defend the eastern side of the alliance.
“We are monitoring very closely,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week. “Information, the best possible situational awareness, is of course extremely important in such a dangerous situation as we see in Ukraine right now.”
In the lead-up to the February 24 offensive, the Coalition’s Joint Air Operations Center at Udem, West Germany, shifted gear. A few dozen military personnel now simultaneously manage 30 aircraft in the skies from the northern tip of Norway to Slovakia.
From an underground bunker in a quiet farm, patrol planes are diverted to monitor suspected Russian planes. On 15-minute standby the jets routinely “alpha scramble” to intercept unidentified aircraft from across Europe near NATO airspace.
There may be upwards of 100 aircraft operating on any given day, which blends into the approximately 30,000 civilian flights made daily through European skies.
Six Boeing E-3A surveillance aircraft from NATO’s aging warning and control aircraft help create an “aerial picture” to be shared with member states. These “eyes in the sky” do not fly over Ukraine or Russia, but can see up to 400 kilometers (250 mi) across borders.
Fighter jets also provide information about what is going on inside the two countries at war. These “assets” are sometimes flown from as far away as western France, refueled in mid-air, and can patrol the border area for about an hour before they must return.
The 30-nation military alliance is wary of engaging in an extensive war with Russia, so borders and airspace are respected.
Major General Harold Van Pee, commander of the NATO facility in Udem, said: “There is always a fog of war, and we don’t want to keep NATO assets close by because you could inadvertently do some damage.”
The areas most vulnerable to unknown planes are the Kola Peninsula _ on the high northern borders of Russia and Norway _ the Gulf of Finland near the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, and the skies around Kaliningrad, Russia, sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland.
From their computer screens, NATO personnel can also track cruise missiles, such as those used by Russia last month to pound a military training base in western Ukraine near NATO member Poland, which killed 35.
But shielding them from aircraft is a high-risk endeavor, especially at night, in bad weather or when missiles hit the ground, flying so low that electric pylons and cables become a threat. “We have to be convinced there is a credible threat,” Van Pee said.
A less obvious challenge to NATO airspace is rogue drones. Military officials said Russia is using powerful electromagnetic devices to jam communications that could disrupt remotely controlled flights.
Last month, a military drone flew out of Ukraine uncontrollably through the airspace of three members – Romania, Hungary and Croatia – before crashing in the Croatian capital. Some parked cars were damaged but no one was hurt.
The drone weighed just over 6 tons. Both Russia and Ukraine denied launching it. Military officials and NATO officials declined to comment on the incident until the investigation was completed.
“Even if you fly with one of those drones, are you going to do something about it? You have to ask yourself, because if you shoot it down you’re definitely Going to do damage on land. If you let it fly, expect it to crash in the ocean. I mean, you don’t know,” Van Pei said.
Whether it’s a rogue drone or a missile threat, political and legal experts must be involved in any decision to shoot something down. Despite the war in its backyard, NATO operates under strict peacetime rules and is determined to keep it that way.
“Before you start using force, there must be an imminent threat to NATO forces or the NATO population. It is a judgment call, and it is always difficult,” Van Pee said.