Hungarian planes to police skies of Slovenia, Baltics

Fighter aircraft of the Hungarian air force will be in charge of policing the airspace of Slovenia and the Baltic states under a NATO agreement, Defense Minister Csaba Hende said on Tuesday. These NATO countries do not have an air force of their own.

Hungarian Gripens will be used to police Slovenian skies in the near future and the Baltic states between 2015 and 2018, the minister added. Like Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia do not have an air force.

Upon joining NATO, it was a decision that these countries – instead of the costly fighter plane acquisition and air force maintenance – they develop other army units that they make available for the North Atlantic Alliance.