NATO Completes Eastern Flank Air Detachment Handoovers

Overview

• This week NATO detachments formally handed over missions on the eastern flank, with the RAF transferring responsibility in Romania to the Spanish Air and Space Force and the Romanian unit in Lithuania passing duties to an incoming Italian detachment.
• Spain is deploying seven F‑18 fighters and roughly 200 personnel to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, backed by an A400M tanker and later three NH‑90 helicopters assigned to counter-drone tasks.
• The RAF reported its four-month Romania rotation flew 49 Quick Reaction Alert scrambles and logged more than 1,500 hours at very high readiness while the Romanian 'Carpathian Vipers' recorded over 800 flying hours and more than 20 Alpha scrambles in the Baltics.
• Allied Air Command says the rotations are operationalizing a shift from traditional Air Policing into an Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) posture that extends coverage to manned aircraft, unmanned systems, cruise missiles and ballistic threats.
• Units on rotation have worked in multinational exercises and combined missions to boost tactics and command integration, a step NATO says will strengthen deterrence and reassure allies while the Alliance continues to rotate forces and embed counter-drone and tanker support.