Gripen fighters leave Caslav airport for Baltic mission

CTK

Five Czech Jas-39 Gripen fighter aircraft heading for the Baltic Air Policing mission left the Caslav airport for Estonia today and will take over the task from the British Royal Air Force (RAF), from September 1 to mid-January 2020.

The pilots themselves will also wear special The Czech pilots, based at the Amari Air Base, will be patrolling the skies above Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together with pilots from Denmark and Belgium.

The first group of soldiers left for Estonia last Saturday in order to prepare for today's main transfer. The deployment of five Gripen fighters and maximally 95 soldiers to Estonia was approved by parliament last year.

The Gripens carry standard equipment used while protecting Czech air space - guided missiles, a built-in 27 mm cannon and infrared countermeasure flares.

A new piece of equipment are the Litening 4i targeting and reconnaissance pods, usually used for precise strikes against ground targets. On their current mission, the pilots will use the pods for improved remote visual monitoring of other aircraft.uipment incorporating neoprene dry suits in case they need to move out of the aircraft and into cold waters.

The Baltic mission is the sixth such mission of the Czech supersonic air force. Previously, it fulfilled three Icelandic missions, and two Baltic missions in 2009 and 2012.

NATO members alternate while policing Baltic air space since none of the allied Baltic countries posess their own supersonic air force.

sinfin.digital