France is strengthening its military presence on NATO’s eastern flank. After announcing in October the deployment of armored infantry vehicles and Leclerc tanks in Romania, the French army has deployed four Rafales in Lithuania since Friday.
These planes, which will depart from Mont-de-Marsan “will ensure the missions of protecting the airspace of the Baltic countries”, we learned from the Ministry of the Armed Forces at the beginning of the week.
The deployment of the four Rafales is part of NATO’s “Enhanced Air Policing (eAP)” mission, the ministry said. The objective is to guarantee “the integrity of the Baltic airspace and the sovereignty of the different states that do not have the necessary capabilities to do it alone.”
Reinforcements in Estonia
This is not the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine that Paris has strengthened its presence in Eastern Europe.
In addition, “a reinforced light infantry company” will be deployed in Estonia in 2023 equipped with Griffon vehicles, that is, around a hundred additional men, the French Minister of the Armed Forces said on October 11.
On that date, some 300 French soldiers were stationed in Estonia as part of NATO.
Source: BFM TV
