BRUSSELS

NATO's allied air forces started on Monday a two-day drill in the Baltic Sea region to "deter and defend the alliance against any aggression."

Air forces from 9 NATO members – Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Türkiye, the UK, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and candidate country Finland are taking part in the Ramstein Alloy exercise, the alliance said in a statement.

Over two dozen fighter and support aircraft, as well as NATO airborne early warning aircraft, are participating in the training hosted by Latvia.​​​​​​​

The participants will fly quick reaction alert drills, including, among others, communication loss, dissimilar air combat training, combat search and rescue, and air-to-air refueling scenarios.

“For the first time, we are including both air- and surface-based Integrated Air and Missile Defense activities in our drills,” Squadron Leader Craig Docker said.

Docker, who planned the drill, asserted that the exercise demonstrates how NATO is “shielding the eastern flank.”