Swedish Gripen conduct first visual identifications over Baltic Sea as NATO member, together with Belgian and German allies

Following Sweden’s recent NATO membership, its air force engaged in multiple encounters with Russian planes over the Baltic Sea. The incidents involved Swedish Jas 39 Gripen fighters working in coordination with NATO allies, intercepting Russian military aircraft.

In the morning of March 11, Allied radar operators picked up an unidentified track over the Baltic Sea going from Kaliningrad to mainland Russia; the controllers at NATO’s CAOC at Uedem subsequently coordinated the launch of Swedish NATO jets from Sweden and ordered Belgian F-16 fighter jets to launch from Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania. Both Allies visually identified a Russian Tu-134 that was not on a flight plan.

Later in the day, another track of a Russian An-26 showed on NATO’s radar screens and the CAOC alerted the German Quick Reaction Alert Interceptors at Lielvarde to launch and establish further details of the track. The Swedish JAS-39 Gripen jets were also launched and both Allies conducted a visual identification of a Russian military aircraft type An-26 and escorted the plane.

Upon professionally conducting these routine visual identification missions, the NATO jets from Belgium, Germany and Sweden returned to their bases.

NATO praised Sweden’s participation, highlighting the deep integration achieved between Swedish and NATO forces. The encounters occurred shortly after Sweden’s NATO membership, marking the country’s first operational engagement since joining the alliance. Despite these encounters, both sides emphasised the importance of cooperation and communication in the Baltic region.

This story was first mentioned in our forum on 12 March.

Published with the assistance of Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office