NATO Allies practice close air support in Lithuania.

Troops from NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup in Lithuania are training together with British and Spanish pilots from the Alliance’s Baltic Air Policing mission. The training, which began on Monday (11 May 2020) and wraps up this week, provides an opportunity to improve close air support and aircrew procedures and skills.
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Norwegian Forward Air Controller (Picture source: British MoD)

It involves the battlegroup’s German and Norwegian Joint Terminal Attack Controllers – specialized soldiers who guide fighter aircraft to targets on the ground – conducting air-to-ground support missions with British Eurofighter Typhoons and Spanish F-18s.

The British and Spanish air force contingents operate from Šiauliai Air Base and help guard the skies over the Baltic region as part of NATO’s Air Policing Mission. NATO’s battlegroup in Lithuania is composed of around 1,200 personnel from Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Norway. The battlegroup is part of the biggest reinforcement of the Alliance’s collective defense in a generation.