Germany sending fighter jets to Latvia to protect election from drone incidents

VIENNA — Germany will send four Eurofighter jets to defend Latvian airspace during its upcoming elections, as concerns over drone incursions from neighboring Russia and Belarus remain high.

Berlin plans to dispatch four Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, alongside a contingent of several dozen soldiers and technicians, to the Lielvārde air base in central Latvia. They will be there for a week in late September and early October, the German ministry of defense said in a statement.

Latvian authorities had requested support from allies to secure the skies over the country during the general election, Germany said. The Latvian parliamentary election is scheduled to take place Oct. 3.

The mission is billed as part of NATO’s enhanced air policing north, or eAPN, in the Baltic States, though the short, one-week timeline and narrower election focus set it apart from the alliance’s routine four-month rotations.

None of the three small Baltic States possess their own fighter aircraft. Unlike northern Estonia and southern Lithuania, Latvia is not usually home to permanently stationed NATO jets; instead, the allied aircraft stationed in the neighboring states also cover Latvian skies.

The Baltic states in particular have been calling for strong NATO commitments to secure the alliance’s eastern flank, as governments in the three small countries feel particularly threatened by Russia. This year, repeated unauthorized drone incursions have additionally put the countries on edge. Some of these have been identified as Ukrainian drones that strayed off course from their targets in Russia, while other instances remain unidentified.

Significantly, Italian NATO jets in neighboring Lithuania shot down a suspected Russian-made drone this week after it crossed the border from Belarus. It was the first time a drone was shot down in Lithuanian airspace.

Lielvārde air base, where the German Eurofighters will be stationed during their mission, has also seen rotating contingents of other NATO countries’ fighter jets. Just a few weeks ago, in late August, two Turkish F-16 fighter jets visited the base. In April, French Rafale jets based out of Šiauliai, Lithuania, visited the airfield. NATO has also used the base for its AWACS aircraft during missions along the Russian border.

Latvia and its two Baltic neighbors have been members of NATO since 2004, joining alongside fellow eastern flank countries Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and Slovenia.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——由于邻国俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的无人机入侵仍然令人担忧，德国将派遣四架台风战斗机在拉脱维亚即将举行的选举期间保卫其领空。

德国国防部在一份声明中表示，柏林计划派遣四架“台风”战斗机以及数十名士兵和技术人员前往拉脱维亚中部的利耶尔瓦尔德空军基地。他们将于9月下旬至10月初在那里驻扎一周。

德国方面表示，拉脱维亚当局已请求盟国支持，以确保大选期间该国领空安全。拉脱维亚议会选举定于10月3日举行。

此次任务被宣传为北约在波罗的海国家加强空中警戒北方行动（eAPN）的一部分，但其较短的一周时间安排和更狭窄的选举重点使其与该联盟例行的四个月轮换行动有所不同。

波罗的海三国均未拥有自己的战斗机。与爱沙尼亚北部和立陶宛南部不同，拉脱维亚通常没有常驻的北约战机；相反，驻扎在邻国的盟军战机也会负责拉脱维亚领空的巡逻。

波罗的海三国尤其呼吁北约做出强有力的承诺，以确保联盟东翼的安全，因为这三个小国的政府感到俄罗斯对其构成了特别严重的威胁。今年，无人机多次未经授权的入侵事件更令这些国家感到不安。其中一些事件已被确认为偏离俄罗斯境内目标的乌克兰无人机所为，而其他一些事件的来源仍不明。

值得注意的是，本周，意大利驻北约战机在邻国立陶宛击落了一架疑似俄罗斯制造的无人机，该无人机此前从白俄罗斯越境进入立陶宛领空。这是立陶宛领空首次击落无人机。

德国台风战斗机将在利耶尔瓦尔德空军基地执行任务期间驻扎于此，该基地也曾轮换驻扎过其他北约国家的战斗机。就在几周前的8月下旬，两架土耳其F-16战斗机访问了该基地。今年4月，驻扎在立陶宛希奥利艾的法国阵风战斗机也曾到访该机场。北约在俄罗斯边境执行任务时，也曾使用该基地部署预警机。

拉脱维亚及其两个波罗的海邻国自 2004 年以来一直是北约成员国，与东翼国家斯洛伐克、罗马尼亚、保加利亚和斯洛文尼亚一起加入北约。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。