NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission Ends Deployment in Latvia

Riga, Nov 28 (IANS) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Baltic Air Policing Mission ended its deployment in Latvia with a ceremony at the military airbase in Lielvarde.

During the Mission, ended on Wednesday in Latvia, which lasted from March to November, fighter jets were scrambled from the military base 54 times in response to alert calls, Xinhua news agency reported.

The mission will now return to Estonia's renovated Amari base, where Dutch F-35 fighter jets will be deployed in December.

This was the mission's first rotation in Latvia, as the Amari base was undergoing renovation.

NATO member states have been taking part in the Baltic air policing mission on a rotational basis since March 2004, when the Baltic states were admitted to the Alliance.