VILNIUS (Sputnik) – According to the ministry, some 130 representatives of the Spanish Air Force are expected to take part in the duties transfer ceremony scheduled for Thursday. Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets are due to replace Hungarian JAS-39 Gripen multirole fighter jets.
This is the third Spanish mission to protect the airspace of the Baltic States. For the first time the Spanish military participated in the mission with Mirage F1 fighter planes in Lithuania in 2006, and the second time with Eurofighter Typhon jets in Estonia in 2015.
Since joining NATO in 2004, the three Baltic countries' airspace has been defended by a rotating NATO mission.
