The appearance of the identified light military tactical transport aircraft comes as the NBS also released the total number of times BAP jets have scrambled to meet Russian skirtings of Baltic airspace so far this year.
Fighter jets were spotted a total of 62 times, transport planes -16, reccy -45, command (=AWACS) planes -8, strat. bombers -4, helicopt -2
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) September 8, 2014
According to additional NBS tweets (in Latvian) Monday, between January 1 and September 1 Russian planes approached Latvian airspace borders 142 times, with the greatest flurry of fly-bys happening in May and June. Fighter jets were spotted a total of 62 times, transport planes 16 times, reconnaissance craft 45 times, command planes 8 times, bombers 4 times and helicopters twice.
NATO Baltic Air Policing QRA F-16 jets on 8 Sept scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces An-26 over the Baltic Sea.
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) September 8, 2014