AFP, COPENHAGEN: Denmark is contemplating sending four F-16 fighter jets to patrol Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia next month when the Baltic nations are set to join NATO, a Danish military spokesman said on Thursday.
“The decision has yet to be made, and we are discussing this with the Atlantic Alliance,” Lieutenant Colonel Hans-Christian Mathisen told AFP, adding that “parliament must give its support to such a transfer.”
The decision could be made as early as Thursday, parliamentary sources told
If the House gives the green light for the transfer, the four F-16 jets will help the Baltic countries patrol their airspace and secure NATO's presence along their borders to the east with Russia.
In addition to the F-16s, the Danish military also expects to send a mobile radar station and about 100 soldiers to the Baltic countries.
“Denmark has traditionally been very involved in the defense of the Baltic republics ever since their independence in 1991,” Mathisen said.
The Danish military has helped train Baltic officers, who are participating in the Danish battalions deployed in Kosovo and Iraq.
