Estonia's UAS Sensing Δ 4th of September 2014 Ω 2:21 AM

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~ NATO Airbase in Estonia ~ Estonian Air Force ~ Estonian Ministry of Defence	~ Estonian Government ~ sense for Ξ ~ sense for Ξ	~ sense for Ξ ~ sense for Ξ ~ sense for Ξ
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~ NATO Airbase in Estonia

NATO Airbase in Estonia

Obama's visit
standing shoulder to shoulder with Estonia's president, Obama called Estonia's Amari Air Base an ideal location
to base those additional forces, which come as NATO nations prepare to bolster a rapid-response force for the region
according to Obama the U.S. has a duty under the NATO charter to the alliance's collective defense
Baltic states have been unsettled by President Vladimir Putin's insistence that Russia has a right to intervene to defend the interests of Russian speakers
Obama:
" More European NATO members need to spend a full 2% of their gross domestic product on defense to keep NATO strong"
" You lost your independence once before. With NATO, you will never lose it again"

Notes
ξ Russia and NATO have agreement forbidding NATA to set up permanent bases in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuenia!
ξ NATO is alos having a tough time convincing its members to spend more on their militaries, a requirement for membership!
ξ The United States spends about 4.4% of its gross domestic product on defense according to NATO figures
ξ the European average is only 1.6%
ξ NATO's guidelines encourage countries to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense = 386 million €!
ξ Estonia is the only one of the Baltic States to meet that goal!
ξ The United States is responsible for 75 percent of NATO military spending!
ξ GPD (2013) 18,4 mrd euros, forecast 2014 was 19,3 mrd euros, 2% = 386 million euros

Finland
ξ Finland's GPD 186.8 mrd € / 2013 => 2% = 3.736 mrd € in NATO , compare to the current military budget 2.751 mrd € (1.36%)
ξ NATO membership to Finland would cost 3.736 mrd euros <=> 36% increase !

Ämari NATO air training center
ξ US President Barack Obama and Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas announced the creation of a NATO flight center at the Ämari air base
ξ Obama: "Today I can announce that this initiative will include additional Air Force units and aircraft
ξ for training exercises here, in the Nordic Baltic region, and
ξ we agree with our Estonian allies that an ideal location to host and support these exercises would be Amari Airbase here in Estonia,"

ξ no permanent NATO bases were promised by US officials, with the Ämari NATO air training center something Estonians can take to the bank
ξ the training center will increase NATO troops in Estonia, with probably increase in air defense capabilities
ξ Obama said Ämari is the perfect location for such a center
ξ Maj. Gen. Riho Terras, the head of the Estonian Defense Forces, said the center has been discussed with US top military officials for months and
ξ once complete, it will boost Estonian security
ξ the air base received a quick makeover ahead of the expansion of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission earlier in the year,
ξ has recently hosted many military exercises and training flights
ξ It is currently unclear if the center would only hold NATO training flights or
ξ include Finland and Sweden, or
ξ develop into an education institution, similar to the Baltic Defense College in Tartu

German jets take to Estonian skies as they take over NATO Baltic policing mission
Germany will be taking over the responsibility of supporting the Baltic Air Policing mission from Ämari Air Base in Estonia.
From September until end of 2014, up to six Luftwaffe Eurofighter Typhoon jets will patrol the skies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,
in coordination with NATO fighter jets already stationed in Lithuania.

German support forms a part of the NATO collective defence reassurance,
offered to the Baltic states in the light of growing security concerns in eastern Europe.
Germany has taken part of the air policing mission six times before,
but it is the first time that the German jets will be based at the Ämari Air Base in Estonia.

The Baltic Air Policing mission was established in 2004, to assist Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
who have no airborne air defence capability of their own and was extended indefinitely in February 2012.
The aim of the mission is to prevent unauthorised incursion into the airspace of the Baltic states and
its most frequent duty is intercepting Russian aircraft and escorting them from the area.
To the west of the Baltic states’ airspace is an air corridor often used by aircraft travelling to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad from territorial Russia.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, confirmed in her recent visit to Latvia
that the German government understands the security concerns of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians.
"Germany is ready to play its part to fulfil the understandable and warranted need
for protection for the people in Latvia and other Baltic states," Merkel said in Riga.

»Amari Air Base
»USAF team checks Estonia airbase for NATO missions
A U.S. Air Force team has conducted a technical inspection of a military airfield in Estonia
it will be used as a new basing alternative for NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission
Airmen from the 48th Air Expeditionary Group RAF Lakenheath visited Amari Air Base in Estonia
to certify the base’s aircraft arresting system,
seen as a critical step toward validating the airfield as a new NATO forward operating base

Polish air force MiG-29s are scheduled to take over from the F-15s.
Because of the continuing crisis, they will be backed up by British Typhoons and Danish F-16s.

Since 2004, the NATO mission has operated from the Lithuanian air base at Siauliai.
Estonia has offered the Amari as a second base for the air policing element.

The arresting system on an airfield is similar to the one on an aircraft carrier.
An aircraft that has brake problems or other trouble stopping lowers it tail hooks
to catch a cable strung across the runway, which gradually slows the jet to a complete stop.
Emergency crews then assist the pilot and shut down the plane’s engines.

NATO will rotate more ships, planes and troops to Eastern Europe to reassure allies,
but it shied away from new permanent bases in the east.

The U.S. Army is deploying about 600 troops from the Vicenza-based 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team to Poland
and Baltic nations for training with allied forces.
A company-size unit of about 150 servicemembers is going to each of the four nations.

Although NATO has decided to increase air policing capacity over the Baltic states and
station four fighter jets in the Ämari air base in Estonia, the base is still undermanned, writes Eesti Päevaleht.

According to Jaak Tarien, chief commander of the Estonian Air Force,
the current plan was to ensure that Ämari is ready for round-the-clock operations by 2015

Four Danish fighter jets are due to arrive in Ämari in May.
Danes are the first in the rotation of nations that will be contributing
to the air policing mission in Baltic States ad includes UK, Germany and France.

“Now it is taking place a year earlier and it’s possible to be a long-term mission.
We have equipment, we have facilities, but we don’t have all the people.
So at this point we will be offering this service at the expanse of extra hours,” said Tarien.

NATO fighter jets will be in constant flight readiness.
This means that the air control tower will be manned 24/7,
that the rescue services must be prepared constantly,
that the airfield is cleaned and pilots have fresh weather data, according to Tarien.

Defence League was actively hiring people who would be interested to work in Ämari.

In Siauliai, which has also been hosting four aircraft the air base
has between 50 and 150 people in the ground handling team which includes base employees.

Tarien says that Ämari has dwelling facilities that accommodate 80 people.
“If the number of people in the base grows higher, we will be accommodating them outside the base,” he said.

The Ämari mission will also mean higher costs to Estonia.
Until now, the three Baltic states have agreed on shouldering
the cost of running the Siauliai air base at a price of 3.5 million euros a year.

»US and UK ready to deploy fighters to Estonia's Amari Air Base
"NATO has thoroughly renovated the Amari air base and the allies' aircraft already have been here.
The base looks great, I can see no reason why aircraft shouldn't be able to operate out of there,"
Harper was quoted as saying in the press release of the General Staff.

U.S. aircraft are already using the Amari air base:
planes of the Michigan National Guard were stationed there last summer and Maryland's are scheduled to arrive this year, Hogg said.

Last summer U.S. attack aircraft A-10 and tanker aircraft KC-135 participating in the Saber Strike exercise were based at Amari,
and allies' aircraft are expected to arrive there for the same exercise this summer.

The British and U.S. military representatives visited the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn
which currently has 11 countries participating in its activities
- Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and the United States.

The British general said that the UK's joining the cyber defense center was among the topics
discussed by the British and Estonian prime ministers, David Cameron and Andrus Ansip,
at their meeting last week, and that this could happen already in the summer.
Cyber defense is one of the newest and at the same time most important spheres
which NATO and all its member states have to take into account nowadays,
he said adding that cyber threats affect the full spectrum of conventional threats.

Hogg said that it is imperative to keep members of the alliance constantly informed about cyber threats and defense,
which is one of the tasks of the cyber defense center, and that the United States is considering increasing its contribution to it.

The UK and U.S. military representatives met with the commander of the Estonian defense forces, Brig. Gen. Riho Terras and
Air Force chief Lt. Col. Jaak Tarien.
They were accompanied by Maj. Gen. Neeme Vali
who currently heads the policy and planning division of NATO's International Military Staff.
The discussion focused on NATO activity after 2014 when the alliance ends combat operations in Afghanistan
but continues supporting the training of the country's own security forces.

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~ Estonian Air Force

»Estonia Air Force
ξ the Estonian Air Force consists of three units
ξ Air Force Headquarters
ξ the Ämari Air Base
ξ Air Surveillance Wing

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~ Estonian Ministry of Defence

»Estonian Ministry of Defence
»Minister of Defence
»contact

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~ Estonian Government

»Estonian Government

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