During the first half of 2017, aircraft from Bodø’s main base have flown as many missions as they did in 2016 as a whole.
In total, two F-16 aircraft which stand in 24 hour emergency preparedness for NATO, moved out 20 times during the year so far, and there have been so many so-called scrambles, reported NRK news.
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Jakub Godzimirski, a researcher at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute, (NUPI), believes that increased NATO activity in the Baltic region is a likely cause of the increased activity in Northern Norway’s airspace.
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‘From Moscow’s perspective, all of Western Europe is considered a strategic area. What happens in the Baltic Sea region affects Russian decisions, and their presence in the north’, said Godzimirski.
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He believes that lately, the Russians have shown a willingness to take higher risks in the air, and that irresponsible actions have been taken near airspace borders.
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‘Probably the top brass in Russia have been told to dare to take greater risks to demonstrate Russian attitudes, and presence in the area’, he said.
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© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
