Baltic Alert

摘要

Protecting the Baltic States' airspace is what the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission is all about. These tiny states do not have a fighter force themselves and rely on NATO fighters based on their soil on 24/7 alert status, like the quick-reaction alert (QRA) maintained across all NATO countries. A control and reporting centre activates the QRA when an aircraft enters Baltic airspace without having filed a flight plan or without identifying itself. That aircraft may be a combat aircraft from another country, but equally it may be an airliner. Within a very short period of time, two fully armed fighters must be in the air to monitor the intercepted aircraft, take photos and escort the bogey.