A French contingent with their Mirage fighter-jets will replace Portuguese airmen currently serving in the Siauliai Aviation Base in Lithuania, while Germans with Eurofighter Typhoon jets will take over the mission from the United Kingdom in the Amari base in Estonia.
The air-policing jets identify and escort Russian warplanes flying in the international airspace above the Baltic Sea a few times a week.
The mission has been conducted in the three Baltic states since the nations joined the Alliance in 2004.
Amid the increase in Russia's military activity in the past years, the Baltic nations would want the Allied jets present in their territories to conduct combat tasks in case of crisis.
