NATO activates its Response Force for the first time

Gastón Dubois

Europe
Typhoon OTAN NATO

Although NATO has assured on more than one occasion that it will not intervene militarily against Russia over Ukraine, the fact is that member countries are carrying out a historic deployment of air assets to reinforce the security of the eastern border and to keep under close surveillance all movements of Russian forces in the operational theater.

NATO activated for the first time elements of its Response Force, which includes the deployment of a multitude of air, land, and maritime assets throughout the eastern front, especially to reinforce the security of countries neighboring the conflict zone and Russia, such as the Baltic states, Poland and Romania.OTAN - NATO

Broadly speaking, we can divide air operations into two main types, combat air patrol and intelligence.

Combat Air Patrol

Also called CAP (Combat Air Patrol), it is an air defense tactic designed to protect a given area from enemy air incursions. It consists of keeping armed fighter planes in the air, patrolling a given area, to intercept and destroy hostile aircraft before they can attack the protected area.

E-3A Sentry NATO OTAN
E-3A Sentry
CAP missions are supported by ground, naval, or airborne early warning aircraft (AEW) surveillance systems such as the E-3 Sentry, better known as AWACS.

More than 100 fighter aircraft are currently deployed to perform these missions, being the first NATO defense shield, creating a retaining wall around the borders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

The skies over Poland and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) are being protected by a coalition of fighters, led by Poland, which counts among its assets F-16s from Poland and Denmark; F-35s from the US and the Netherlands, F-15Es from the USAF, Rafale from France and Eurofighter Typhoon GR4s from the RAF, the latter from bases in the UK.

There are also more fighters on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) around airbases in half of Europe, ready to take off to intercept all types of unauthorized flight.

Romania and the Black Sea area are the other main focus of NATO’s air policing efforts at the moment. For this it has a combined force of US F-35s; Romanian and USAF F-16s, operating from the Fetesti airbase.

From the Mihail Kogalniceanu base, near the city of Constanta and the Black Sea, Italian and German Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons operate. In addition, RAF Typhoons patrol the sea from their bases in Cyprus and F/A-18 Super Hornets from the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet.

To support these air defense missions, several in-flight refueling aircraft were deployed alongside the fighters to extend patrol times. The U.S. is using its KC-135R and KC-10A and, at this time, there is no information that the new Boeing KC-46A Pegasus is in the operational theater.

NATO is using its Airbus A330 MRTTs (for Multi-Role Tanker Transport) operating within the Multinational MRTT Fleet structure. The RAF also operates this model, known in the UK as Voyager, to extend the on-station time of its Typhoon GR4s. And Germany deployed some of its A400Ms for these missions.

Intelligence gathering

To no one’s amazement, in the midst of this war, intelligence flights around the conflict zone are the order of the day. NATO monitors everything in the air, on land, at sea, and in the radio spectrum inside Ukraine.

The borders of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia are swarming with all kinds of aircraft. Such as NATO E-3As, which orbit in the airspace of Romania and Poland, coordinate fighter CAP operations, and keep an eye on Russian air operations inside Ukraine.

USAF and RAF RC-135Ws are also present. The RC-135W Rivet Joint is a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft that can be employed in all scenarios on strategic and tactical missions. Its sensors «absorb» electronic emissions from communications systems, radars, and other emitters, allowing it to generate a «snapshot» of the adversary’s electromagnetic assets. It is also essential for developing new electronic countermeasures and for programming anti-radar weaponry.

 

Comando Aéreo OTAN
NATO Air Command Logo

The USAF’s E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, is also present. It is an airborne platform for battlefield management, command, and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Its primary mission is to provide theater ground and air commanders with ground surveillance that supports strike operations and targets that help delay, disrupt and destroy enemy forces.

And over the Black Sea, the presence of USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk, high-altitude, long-range drones with an integrated sensor suite that provides day and night intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, was identified. The Global Hawk provides near real-time persistent coverage using imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and moving target indicators (MTI) sensors.

Boeing P-8A Poseidon long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft were also circling over the Black Sea, monitoring war actions around the Crimean peninsula, Sea of Azog, and Ukrainian coast.

While NATO will not intervene militarily in a direct way to protect a non-member state, there is overt favoritism in favor of Ukraine, and it is clear that much of the intelligence gathered is shared with senior military commanders in Kiev on an ongoing basis. Which, in part, could explain the slowdown in the speed of the advance of the Russian offensive on almost all fronts.

Meanwhile in the EU

The European Union (EU) is not NATO, but almost. So it decided to intervene more actively in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, without the use of direct force; such as the implementation of very severe economic sanctions, the closure of its airspace to Russian flights, and the closure of Russian state-owned media channels such as RT, Sputnik, and their subsidiaries.

But the most striking of all the actions taken to weaken Russia is that, for the first time in its history, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery of arms and equipment to a country under attack. Under the name of the «European Peace Service», the arms purchases will be made through an extra-budgetary plan, which in principle will have 450 million euros at its disposal.

Among the options being considered by the EU, the purchase of a batch of second-hand fighters for Ukraine is being considered. The most rumored candidate at present is the MiG-29, which could come from the stocks of Bulgaria, Poland, or Slovakia. Another interesting option would be the delivery of Su-25 ground support aircraft, which could be procured from Bulgaria or Georgia. The choice of ex-Soviet models comes from the need for Ukrainian pilots and technicians to be able to integrate the «new» fighters as quickly as possible. Ukraine does not have time to familiarize its personnel with Western aircraft and doctrine. So they have to give them something they know how to operate with the shortest possible adaptation time. As the saying goes, «better the devil you know than the devil you don’t».

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