Baltic Defense

Baltic Defense
For Saturday, November 23, 2024
Michael MacKuen

We continue our flights over the new northern flank of NATO. We fly fast jets over the small Baltic states and then turn west over the sea to Sweden, Denmark, and the north of Germany.

We begin at the newly expanded NATO base at Ämari [EEEI], just west of Estonia’s capital Tallin. Over the last decade it has been apparent that the small countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, are not capable of monitoring their own airspace – they are too small to have combat air forces. And the military threat has begun to rise. Accordingly, the rest of NATO has provided a system of Baltic Air Policing that is intended to assert and protect the sovereignty of these nations. This system operates small flights of fighter planes who fly patrols and monitor the nations’ airspaces. The aircraft and personnel are rotated quarterly through the different NATO air forces (near and far). With the rising tensions of recent years, those forces have doubled to maintain a more substantial presence of the Quick Reaction Alert in the Baltic. We next visit Latvia’s Lielvārde [EVGA] and then Lithuania’s Šiauliai [EVSA], the main operating center for NATO’s joint air forces.

Multinational training exercise on Gotland

Then west over the Baltic Sea to the Swedish island Gotland. Long a strategic outpost, its military importance has now been reemphasized after decades of indifference. The Swedish Air Force maintains dispersal airfield infrastructure at the civilian Visby airport (see the northwest corner) to be used in times of conflict. This was part of Sweden’s overall Cold War “Bas 90” plan to use civilian airports and small reserve air bases in wartime when the main bases would be vulnerable to attack. After the 1990s, many of these dispersal airfields were deactivated but in recent years they are being reconsidered. Visby and its associated airstrips are part of the southern air wing at Ronneby. We can choose to land at either Visby [ESSV], the proper airport, or at Bro Road [ESBR], a remote highway airstrip 4 miles away. (For the latter, look out for the JAS 39 Gripens at the southern and northern ends.)

We proceed to the Swedish mainland and land at Uråsa [ESFU]. This is one of the remote airbases that were meant to be activated in wartime. Each included a jet runway, taxiways, and facilities for mobile maintenance and command operations. It would house several aircraft and the whole concept was based on mobility. The Uråsa air base that we visit is a modeler’s reconstruction of the previously-active base – this one has two J 35 Draken (1960s-1990s) and two JA 37 Viggen (1970s-1990s) at the north and south ends respectively. We continue on to Ronneby [ESDF], a joint use airfield that constitutes one of Sweden’s four primary fighter bases. The Blenkinge Wing (F17 Wing) currently operates two squadrons of JAS 39 Gripen aircraft that guard Sweden’s southern shores. (A touch-and-go or a low-pass would be appropriate. Some pilots may prefer to fly over Uråsa and instead land at the larger Ronneby.)

Then out into the Baltic to land at Denmark’s Bornholm-Rønne [EKRN], a small commercial field serving the island with mostly seasonal airline connections. Just this year, this was the site for a joint training operation of Finnish F/A-18s and Danish F-16s that focused on air-to-air and air defense scenarios. This operation is part of a longer-term plan to develop closer cooperation and inter-operability within the Nordic air forces.

We proceed westward to inspect the Øresund Bridge and monitor shipping in the strait. Afterwards we land at Roskilde [EKRK], a GA and especially business jet airfield. The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) maintains a SAR operation here with facilities to expand for other deployments. Then west over Denmark to inspect the Great Belt Bridge and to land at Skrydstrup [EKSP]. This RDAF base is home to Denmark’s primary combat force of 30 F-16s (now being replaced by a similar number of F-35s).

On our final leg we go south to Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein. En route we see Eggebek [ETME], a former naval air base, 1964-2005 home to MFG 2 and its F-104s and Tornados. It would be appropriate to salute those who flew here by executing a low pass – perhaps a low roll – with permission of course. (The airfield is now a solar park and commercial area. If flying low, watch for nearby windmills.) Then we land at Schleswig-Jagel [ETNS] – the main runway is 05/23 and the secondary runway is 07/25. This air base has long hosted combat aircraft for the Baltic, especially Tornados of the Marineflieger and now the Luftwaffe. In 2023 it was one of the main centers for “Air Defender 23” – a German-led NATO air force exercise that mobilized forces from all the NATO members. (The massive 10-day event included 250 aircraft from 25 countries.) And this year it was the host to the NATO Tiger Meet – a mostly social gathering of select NATO fighter squadrons that emphasizes cooperation and interoperability and good times. An excellent spot to park our fast jets would be at the hangars and tarmac just northwest of the intersection of the two runways. Is it possible to get a glass of beer in Germany?

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here.

Aircraft
This is a flight of 893nm with 8 landings. It is designed for fast jets. Popular choices might include the BAE Hawk, Leonardo M-346, Hawker Hunter, Grumman F-14 Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, Panavia Tornado, Lockheed F-16 Falcon, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed F‑35, as well as the (default) Boeing F/A-18E Hornet. (A fast business jet or commercial jet will do the job.) I’ll probably choose the Tornado or the F‑35A. Please fly what you like.

Additional Scenery
Most of the main airports are in the default simulator. That said, these addons will enhance the scenery appreciably. And if you want to land at the two Swedish dispersal fields [ESBR and ESFU], you will need to download them. Thanks to these talented addon creators.

Amani AB [EEEI]. nickb007
Lielvarde AB [EVGA]. 168Studios
Bro Road Base [ESBR]. Modiffly (Note dependencies)
Urasa AB [ESFU]. joakimhz (Joakim H Zenk) (Note dependency)
Roskilde [EKRK]. Claus Hansen
Skrydstrup AB [EKSP]. soenico
Schleswig-Jagel AB [ETNS]. TurtleTank997

Temporarily, you can obtain the freeware package except Roskilde here (728MB). Roskilde is excellent and highly recommended. You may already have it and in any case you can get it from FS.to at the link above. However, we shall just pass through. I am mindful of pilots careful with their downloads and have separated it out of the all-in-one package. (Also, please observe that I have included two very-specific libraries that you may or may not already have. Just take care about duplications.) Note that Bornholm is an Adobo-enhanced airport.

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 10:00am local for November 23, 2024. We typically prefer real weather. If the weather is awful, consider Jeff’s Partly Cloudy.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, November 23, 2024. 1900 UTC
RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!