NATO Deploys French Atlantique 2 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft to the Baltic Sea

What Happened?

NATO recently began flying the French Atlantique 2 long-range maritime patrol aircraft in the Baltic Sea as part of the new Operation Baltic Sentry.

Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte said:

‘We will do everything in our power to make sure that we fight back, that we are able to see what is happening and then take the next steps to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. And our adversaries should know this.’

While Mr. Rutte didn’t mention Russia by name, it’s clear that Russian operations in the Baltic are the focus of the new NATO effort.

Why it Matters

The Atlantique 2 has a range of over 4,000 miles, can remain in flight for up to fourteen hours, and it can carry a crew of a dozen along with a mixture of sophisticated surveillance equipment, or even weapons systems.

Originally built in the 1970s, France completed a major upgrade and modernization to its Atlantique 2 fleet only two years ago. The new aircraft have modern intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

They can also carry weapons for use against submarines or surface ships.

Such long range and extended duration surveillance capabilities will provide NATO with a more powerful way to monitor Russian surface, submersible, and aerial operations in the Baltic Sea.

In particular, the ability of the Atlantique 2 to gather and record visual imagery with high-resolution cameras means that NATO now has the ability to catch Russia’s shadow fleet in the act if they were to attempt to damage undersea infrastructure in the Baltic region.

Undersea power and fiber optic cables are critical infrastructure for Baltic nations.

Russia has been accused of cutting undersea cables in the Baltic but to date no hard evidence exists to corroborate those accusations. Flights with the Atlantique 2 aircraft mean that NATO is now actively looking to collect such evidence if it exists.

If Russia is behind the recent acts of sabotage in the Baltic the deployment of this new surveillance capability means they will have to adjust their operations accordingly or risk being photographed in the act.

Russian authorities are aware of the significance of the Atlantique 2 aircraft operating in the Baltic. NATO claims Russian surface to air missile systems targeted an Atlantique 2 aircraft operating in international waters.

What that means is Russian radar systems had a lock on the NATO aircraft and could have fired simply by pushing a button. However, Russia didn’t fire, and its likely the targeting was intended as a warning not to fly to close to Russian territory.

How it Affects You

The deployment of the Atlantique 2 to the Baltic and Russia’s response are indicators of an increase in tensions between NATO and Russia.

The Baltic region is now a flashpoint that could trigger a direct conflict between Russia and NATO, which could in turn lead to a larger war.