Historic mission. Swedish planes fly near Russia for first time since joining NATO
Swedish planes conduct a historic flight (photo: flickr.com/boushh_tfa)
Today, Swedish aircraft made two flights near the border with Russia for the first time. This is the first mission of Swedish military aviation near Russia since the country joined NATO.
The first flight was made by a Swedish Gulfstream S102B reconnaissance aircraft. It flew over Poland near the borders of the Kaliningrad region and Belarus. The aircraft is equipped with various equipment capable of intercepting and analyzing messages and other electronic signals
The second flight was carried out by a Saab 340 AEW&C radar aircraft over the Baltic Sea. The Saab 340 AEW&C is equipped with a radar system capable of detecting various targets over long distances.
Screenshot: Itamilradar, portal for monitoring the flights of military aircraft
Sweden's accession to NATO
On Thursday, March 7, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO. The Protocol of Accession to NATO was published on the website of the US Department of State.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland jointly applied to join NATO. In doing so, the countries abandoned the policy of military neutrality that they had been pursuing for decades.
While it was relatively quick for the latter (Finland became the 31st NATO member on April 4, 2023), for Sweden the process was delayed due to objections from Turkey and Hungary.
Later, after a series of agreements, Ankara finally gave its consent. On January 25, 2023, Turkish President Recep Erdogan signed a decision of the Turkish parliament ratifying the protocol on Sweden's accession to NATO.
After that, Hungary became the last NATO member state to delay the ratification of Sweden's membership in the Alliance. The issue moved forward only almost a year later. Recently, Hungary also took a similar step, finally ratifying Stockholm's application.
