FLUG REVUE October 2005: Luftwaffe F-4Fs patrol Baltic airspace

October 2005

LUFTWAFFE PHANTOMS PROTECTING BALTIC AIRSPACE

By Stefan Petersen

With afterburner ablaze, the F-4F with the red “R” on its air intake climbs into the cloudy Lithuanian sky. As the aircraft turns towards the north-east, a silver blue Lancia Delta moves on to the runway, then races its full length down and back again. Only when the small vehicle has turned off again does the second NATO Quick Reaction Alert force (NQRA) Phantom taxi to the start point. Seconds later it too is airborne, well within 15 minutes of the alarm, as required by NATO – despite the somewhat unusual procedure on the former Soviet base near Siauliai.

F-4F

“That is the biggest difference compared with procedures in Germany,” says Wing Commander Frank Gräfe, Commander of the Luftwaffe contingent in Lithuania. The duty Lancia is driven by the Flight Safety Officer of the 118-person strong detachment that is monitoring the airspace above the three Baltic NATO states with four F-4F Phantoms from Fighter Wing 71 “Richthofen” (JG 71 “R”) for three months. Before and after every take-off and every landing, he checks the runway for foreign objects that could endanger the J79 engines of the heavy fighters. “Only the first 460 metres have been asphalted. After that, the runway consists of a series of concrete slabs which are prone to shedding small pieces,” explains Gräfe, himself an F-4F pilot and, back home in Wittmund, Captain of the 2nd Squadron of Fighter Wing Richthofen. Things are especially bad when it is raining. “The water gets into the joints and can't run off,” so flying operations have to be suspended, as safety is more important.

But now, at the beginning of the fourth week in Lithuania, the weather is on their side, and the contingent is able to fulfil the task it was set by Gräfe on taking over the command ten days earlier: two “tango scrambles” (training scrambles) with two F-4F's per day. “Originally we were only aiming for two to three tango scrambles per week,” says Gräfe. “But now everyone is up to speed and the engineers have been able to keep all four jets permanently mission-capable, so we have been able to step up our presence accordingly.”

As far as the 36-year-old Wing Commander is concerned, the main task that the NATO jets have to fulfil over the Baltic is to demonstrate their commitment. “The aircraft should not only be on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week to protect the airspace, but they also need to be seen in the sky.” The aim is to spend equal amounts of time flying above Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Three large Temporary Reserved Airspaces (TRAs) are available for this purpose: one directly above Siauliai, another above the Estonian-Latvian border and a third on the north coast of Estonia. However, this last one is so far away that the Phantoms have to turn back after practising only one interception.

To demonstrate that all three Baltic states are receiving the same treatment, it is important to divide the time spent in the air equally between each of the three countries. The decision to use Siauliai as a NATO base has resulted in not inconsiderable sums of money going to Lithuania. “For Siauliai it is like hitting the jackpot,” says Gräfe. To supplement the modest capabilities of the Baltic air forces – the three states can muster only a pitiful number of jets between them, four Aero L-39C Albatros in Siauliai which belong to Lithuania – NATO troops are to be stationed here for at least eight years, with responsibility changing hands every three months. The Belgians completed the first stint of Quick Reaction Alert/Intercept (QRA/I) readiness in the Baltic in April 2004. Since then, interceptor NQRA forces from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands have each completed a three-month tour of duty. When the Luftwaffe jets leave Siauliai at the end of September, they will be relieved by American F-16's. Detachments from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will follow.

All sorties are commanded from the air defence operations centre in Kalkar on the lower Rhine – like the northern half of Germany, the Benelux countries and Poland, the Baltic belongs to NATO Air Policing Area 2.

While Gräfe explains the regional airspace structure in the readiness room of the operations building to the south-west of the runway, the two Phantom crews are practising interceptions several thousand feet above just as they would perform a training sortie in German airspace. Under air policing, the potential targets range from the aircraft which is violating military airspace, which has to be forced to land and in extreme cases fired on, through to the civil aircraft undergoing an emergency which has to be led safely to the ground following the failure of radio or navigation equipment.

While this is going on, the jets are controlled from the control room in Kaunas, where for the period of German responsibility nine Luftwaffe fighter controllers are on duty at the radar screens while at the same time familiarising the Lithuanian controllers with NATO procedures. The flying safety personnel of Siauliai have already completed a two-month induction course in Wittmund and are now highly thought of. “They are no different from their German counterparts, they speak excellent English and understand their job,” says Captain Michael Helbig. However, the small number of flights is quite different from what this 34-year-old F-4F pilot is used to. His home base is FW 74 in Neuburg on the Danube, which, like FW 71, is providing flying and technical personnel for Lithuania. “Here the airspace is empty and a lot freer than at home. During my time here I have only ever seen two aircraft in the sky!” Flying is a lot easier here than in the crowded airspace of the Federal Republic of Germany, he says, and Gräfe agrees with him. “Most of the traffic is around Riga, more than in Vilnius.”

In the capital city of Lithuania, a good 200 kilometres away from Siauliai, the two loneliest servicemen in his contingent are stationed. A field fuel depot run by 14 pipeline engineers, eight firemen and three military police is also maintained there. “They are operating the second TACAN that we brought with us from Germany. The other one is here in Siauliai.” These radio navigation aids are necessary to provide reliable assistance with orientation to the fighter aircraft in poor weather. “With this equipment, Vilnius is our main alternative aerodrome in the event that we cannot come back to Siauliai,” says Gräfe. “Of the 14 tango scrambles which the Luftwaffe contingent has flown up to now, Vilnius has served as “alternate” ten times.”

But the scramble exercises do not actually come as much of a surprise to the teams on duty – two aircrews and six maintenance technicians. Gräfe explains. “If we want to overfly the border with Latvia or Estonia, we have to submit the flight plan 24 hours in advance, and if we are only going to use the TRA above Siauliai, the Lithuanian air traffic control authorities always have to have four hours' notice, not least so as to ensure that the emergency helicopters are also on standby at the right time.” As a result, the alarm siren rings out more or less regularly at 9:30 in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon. It is only seldom that crews and ground mechanics have to sprint to their vans parked in front of the operations building in order to race to the parking area a few hundred metres away. And no no “Alpha scramble” has yet occurred for a genuine air policing mission.

While a loud rumbling noise announces the return of the NQRA aircraft, Frank Gräfe already has his mobile phone to his ear again. The exercise has gone smoothly, but he now has to devote considerable attention to public relations: visits for generals from Germany and Lithuania have to be organised, as do frequent visits from the regional press, which is very interested in the German servicemen. “Recently we played a little football friendly match against the Lithuanians, and – would you believe it – it was even reported on TV!” He is annoyed that his team lost the match 4:5. “Next week we are playing basketball, but we are preparing ourselves more thoroughly this time.” Gräfe has had no more opportunity to fly in Siauliai than his Flying Safety Officer.

Meanwhile the latter is out in the Lancia again, preparing for the safe landing of the two F-4F's. The Lithuanian workers, who are asphalting the second runway at an amazing tempo so as to offer the NATO jets better conditions, have to stop work in the vicinity of the main runway also for safety reasons – the Phantoms are carrying two live infrared AIM-9Li-1 Sidewinder air-to-air rockets under their wings, while their M-61A1 Vulcan cannons are armed to the hilt with 639 20mm grenades. The jets make a few more approaches to provide practice for the Tower personnel before they land and taxi back to the “Rubbs” – tent shelters which the Brits brought with them. The workers return to work immediately. “The Lithuanians are making unbelievable efforts to do everything NATO wants”, says Gräfe. The Luftwaffe too will benefit from this, should they be tasked with air policing the Baltic a second time in the future.

Until then the Bundeswehr servicemen have time to train to improve their performance at basketball. For it turns out that the Germans lost the match to avenge the football defeat by a humiliating 29:102.

From page 38 of FLUG REVUE 10/2005

Last updated 14 September 2005

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