Luftwaffe F-4F Phantom IIs from Jagdgeschwader (Fighter Wing) 71 "Richthofen" relieved Eurofighters of Jagdgeschwader 74 conducting the NATO Baltic air policing mission from Siauliai, Lithuania, at the beginning of the week. Lt.Col. Danilo Schlag, who commanded the Eurofighters, which policed Baltic airspace from 1 September to 2 November, declared "mission accomplished".
Over the last two months, the Luftwaffe Eurofighters conducted two alpha scrambles intercepting aerial intruders and 34 tango training scrambles from Siauliai. It was the first NATO deployment by Luftwaffe Eurofighters and the first time Eurofighter was deployed for an alliance mission outside its borders.
The Phantoms will continue the mission until 4 January, when they will be relieved by French Mirage 2000s.
Wow that last pic depicts one (properly) weathered, elderly bird. No offense, but is it capable of a 6 min scramble? I'm curious also, if it is armed with IRIS-T like the Typhoon or AIM-9x? And lastly, there are 2 F-4s contributing to the policing, or 4 concurrently?
To clarify, it's the first Eurofighter deployed outside its national territory on a NATO mission (the Baltic states are of course alliance members). Luftwaffe F-4F Phantom IIs are armed with AMRAAM, not as far as I know IRIS-T. The Baltic air policing mission has usually been conducted by four aircraft, but the Luftwaffe has in the past told me that up to six F-4Fs would be deployed (presumably beause they are harder to maintain). There's a video on the Luftwaffe website about the previous F-4F deployment to the Baltics that shows the aircraft scrambling in seven minutes: http://www.luftwaffe.de/portal/a/luftwaffe/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLNzKINzZ1CgRJgjnuXs76kQjhoJRUfW99X4_83FT9AP2C3IhyR0dFRQD3gi3J/delta/base64xml/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SVVFLzZfMjBfMzVCUQ!!?yw_contentURL=%2F01DB060000000001%2FW27VFHF5041INFODE%2Fcontent.jsp
One wing-dip and they were back inside alliance territory, but yes, technically they were deployed 'abroad'.
Respects to Fighter wing 71 and 74.
Luftwaffe F-4F Phantom IIs are armed with AMRAAM, not as far as I know IRIS-T. The Baltic air policing mission has usually been conducted by four aircraft, but the Luftwaffe has in the past told me that up to six F-4Fs would be deployed (presumably beause they are harder to maintain). There's a video on the Luftwaffe website about the previous F-4F deployment to the Baltics that shows the aircraft scrambling in seven minutes:
http://www.luftwaffe.de/portal/a/luftwaffe/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLNzKINzZ1CgRJgjnuXs76kQjhoJRUfW99X4_83FT9AP2C3IhyR0dFRQD3gi3J/delta/base64xml/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SVVFLzZfMjBfMzVCUQ!!?yw_contentURL=%2F01DB060000000001%2FW27VFHF5041INFODE%2Fcontent.jsp