Estonia’s Fledgling Air Force

Set up with help from the US Regional Airspace Initiative (RAI) and under Danish and Norwegian mentorship, the Estonian Air Force is stationed at Amari AFB, its small aviation inventory including two aging Antonov An-2 biplane transports and four Robinson R-44 helicopters. The former will soon give way to two second hand Shorts C-23B+ SHERPA light transports that will be provided by the US. When fitted with a FLIR Systems EO/IR sensor, searchlight and video downlink, the Robinson light helicopters are used for surveillance missions, hereby supporting activities of the Estonian Police and Border Guard. The border guard itself operates three new high end Finmeccanica-Agusta Westland AW139 helicopters for a wide range of missions including SAR, these aircraft being stationed elsewhere though. Estonia now operates two Thales GROUNDMASTER 403 3D mobile air surveillance radars, which it procured together with Finland in 2009 in order to meet NATO requirements, the latter acquiring 12 systems. Providing greatly improved radar coverage of the country, the Estonian radar systems help build up a recognised air picture as part of the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS) with the tri-national Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at Karmelava, Lithuania also being integrated.

The Estonian AF operates two Aero L39 jet training aircraft for FAC training. (All Photos: Pieter Bastiaans)

Non-Kinetic

Also based at Amari are two Aero L39 ALBATROS aircraft, which are leased from the Baltic Bees aerobatic team from Latvia. These jet trainers are used to train local fighter controllers and forward air controllers (FAC). Lt.Col. Rauno Sirk, base commander of Amari AFB explained: “Due to a lack of budget, we have no plans to acquire combat jets.” Questioned about the possibility of supporting the deployment and redeployment efforts needed for the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission with the SHERPA aircraft that will be introduced, he said: “We will support where possible.” Also present during MT’s visit to Amari in mid December was the Chief of the Estonian Air Force, Col. Jaak Tarien. He explained that, “while a normal Air Force delivers kinetic effects we have nothing lethal in our air inventory. However, we enable our allies to deliver on our behalf, hereby creating a well-rehearsed system that acts as a deterrent. Our priority programmes for the next few years are Link 16 and secure communications.”

Lt.Col. Sirk, Commander of Amari AFB

Col. Tarien, Chief of the Estonian Air Force, explained that his air force enables allies to deliver on behalf of Estonia.

Approved by NATO

As a result of the Ukraine crisis, NATO agreed on a number of immediate assurance measures (IAM), one of which was the intensification of the BAP mission. According to Col. Tarien, “2014 has been a breakthrough year for us as 24/7 air policing commenced with Denmark taking up this mission on 1 May”. At the time, Amari AFB was scheduled to be able to accommodate intermittent deployments followed by a recuperation period. Col. Tarien said: “The base was not completely ready. Since, much has been achieved under the leadership of the base commander.” Subsequently, in June, Amari accommodated eight US F-16 fighters together with tanker support and some Lockheed Martin P-3 maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft during the annual US led “Saber Strike/Baltops” exercise. A first for Amari, a Baltic Regional Training Event (BRTE) was held at Amari by NATOs Headquarters Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) in September. In early that month, the Danish F-16 detachment was relieved in place by the German contingent operating the EUROFIGHTER.

The air base also figures prominently in Estonia’s series of Spring Storm exercises, which are held annually, usually in the months of May and June. Lt.Col. Sirk disclosed that the 2015 edition will see Estonian land forces being supported by British and Polish air assets with US aircraft perhaps joining the training scheme as well. Col. Tarien indicated that he expects the air base “to be turned into a regional training centre” in the future with the US providing funding for this.

Four Robinson R44 helicopters are in use, two of which are configured for surveillance missions.

Uninvited Guests?

Speaking about the recent surge in intercepts, Tarien said: “I have heard of aggressive behaviour by Russian aircraft, especially by FLANKER pilots. In order for deterrence to succeed, it is essential that we signal that this area is part of NATO. We do not want miscalculation on the Russian side.” He continued: “We would like to see a western democracy like Russia. However, we don’t see this happening in the next ten years.”

According to figures provided by the Lithuanian MoD, the vast majority of recent intercepts occurred in international airspace, over the Baltic Sea and in the air corridor between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia. Particularly troublesome is the area where Estonian, Finnish and Russian airspace merge, Tarien: “That’s where they cut the corner of our airspace, flying over Estonian territorial waters for about a minute. There have been seven occurences recently. Last year (2013) there were zero violations, although it happened before in the early 2000s. They say 'your radar is wrong.' However, there is a legitimate transit area they can use.” Due to the short duration of these violations, such incidents cannot be solved by alerting air policing aircraft. Rather, most QRA(I) missions that are alerted by the Uedem based CAOC are in response to unusual, large scale formations of Russian military aircraft being tracked in the air policing area. The largest number of Russian military aircraft was identified on 8 December with a massive 30 aircraft triggering NATO fighters to be scrambled eight times on that particular day. The second busiest day was 10 December  when air policing fighters took off six times, in response to 26 Russian military aircraft identified, according to Lithuanian MoD figures.

Show of Force

On 8-9 December, six strategic bombers were intercepted close to the borders of the Baltic States: four Tupolev Tu-95 BEAR and two Tupolev Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE bombers. During the week 30 Russian fighters including Su-27 FLANKERs, Su-24 FENCERs, Su-34 FULLBACKs, and MiG-31 FOXHOUNDs, as well as transport and Ilyushin Il-20 COOT reconnaissance aircraft were also identified near the Baltic States' borders. Tarien: “The Tu-95 BEAR is a step up in Russian air activity, the presence of these aircraft clearly is a show of force. They had not been in the area for years. Normally, it is fighters and ISR aircraft that are being intercepted with BACKFIREs occasionally being observed. While the Russians often operate out of Kaliningrad, the Tu-95s came from their home base in central Russia and returned there.”

Questioned about the Russian activity’s effect on air safety, Tarien said: “The flight without transponders are a concern. They do not file flight plans, they’re not always in contact with ATC. Nowadays, ATC only uses radar as a secondary measure relying on information provided by transponders instead”. He continued: “Do I expect extra Russian activity in May, June of 2015, yes, I do. They do training scrambles themselves. We have seen that the Russian air force has multiplied its training efforts since the Georgia war and we’re seeing the results.”

Pieter Bastiaans