NATO fighters will be able to shoot down air targets over the Baltic countries

From now on, NATO fighter jets in the air over Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will be allowed to destroy air objects that pose a threat, not just escort them.

This was stated by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Reuters reports.

According to Nauseda, the mission to patrol the Baltic states was created for peacetime, when aircraft only identified and escorted air targets. Now, due to the security situation, the rules will be changed.

The Baltic airspace patrol mission was launched in 2004 after the countries joined NATO. It operates in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which do not have their own fighter jets. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said the revamped mission would allow for a faster and more flexible response to air threats.

NATO fighter jets are currently scrambled whenever Russian warplanes fly over international waters near the Baltics, from Russiaʼs Kaliningrad to the Gulf of Finland. The mission was stepped up after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, with more than a dozen fighter jets from two air bases now participating.

Earlier this year, NATO fighter jets opened fire on drones that had entered Estonian and Latvian airspace, in what NATO said was the first time the weapons had been used in a mission to protect the Alliance.

• In September 2025, drones and aircraft began flying into Europe. In particular, Russian drones were recorded in Poland and Romania, and their wreckage was found in Bulgaria and Latvia. The number of flights of unknown drones near British military bases doubled. Three MiG-31 fighters entered Estonian airspace. Drones were also recorded in Norway, near a naval base in Sweden, and military facilities in Denmark.

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