Latvian Air Force combat record

Order of Battle · Latvian Air Force

Every war the Latvian Air Force has fought

Latvian airmen flew 69 combat sorties in the War of Independence; in 1940 the air force did not resist, and the drones shot down over Latvia in 2026 fell to allied fighters, with the Latvian Air Force providing the radar picture and air control. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.

From the War of Independence in 1919 to drones over the eastern border today.

Conflict Years Against Main aircraft Sorties Aircraft lost
The Latvian War of Independencethe first Latvian military flightsLatvian army Aviation Group 1919–1920 Soviet Russia Nieuport 24bis, Sopwith 1½ Strutter 69

Reconnaissance and bombing with captured and British-supplied aircraft.

Latvian military aviation began in the middle of a war. On 7 June 1919 First Lieutenant Alfrēds Valeika was ordered to form an aviation group for the Latvian army, and its first aircraft were a Nieuport 24bis and Sopwith 1½ Strutters taken from German forces. Wikipedia dates the first flight to 5 August 1919 and the first bombing mission to 26 August; by September three aircraft were on strength, and Britain sent more in December. The air force’s own history counts 69 combat sorties and 101 flying hours before the armistice with Soviet Russia on 1 February 1920. It was a tiny effort beside the ground war, but it is where the service dates its birth, and its motto, Visu par Latviju, comes from these years.

Outcome Armistice 1 February 1920; peace treaty with Soviet Russia 11 August 1920; Latvia’s independence secured.

The war also involved German Freikorps and the West Russian Volunteer Army in 1919; the sources do not say against which enemy each sortie was flown, so only Soviet Russia is listed as the opponent.

Flying for
Latvian army Aviation Group
Where
Latvia
Alongside
Estonia and Poland
Against
Soviet Russia
Aircraft
Nieuport 24bis, Sopwith 1½ Strutter
Sorties
6969 combat sorties and 101 flying hours up to the armistice with Soviet Russia on 1 February 1920 (mil.lv).
Losses
Not given in the sources checked.
Sources
Nacionālie bruņotie spēki · Wikipedia · Wikipedia
The Soviet occupation of Latviaan air force dissolved without a fightLatvian Aviation Regiment 1940 Soviet Union Gloster Gladiator, Letov Š-16L, Fairey Seal 0

Did not resist; the government accepted the Soviet ultimatum and the regiment was dissolved.

By 1940 Latvia believed it had the strongest air arm of the three Baltic states, with aircraft from Britain, Czechoslovakia and Belgium and its own VEF designs. None of it was used. The Red Army entered in June 1940, and the air force’s own history says simply that everything was destroyed: aircraft were taken to the USSR and personnel deported. The Gladiators went to the Soviet Air Force, some later falling into German hands as glider tugs; the four Fairey Seals, in Soviet service, were destroyed by German aircraft on 28 June 1941; the VEF I-16 prototype ended its days at a German flying school. Thirty Hurricanes, paid for in 1939, never came.

Outcome The Aviation Regiment officially ceased to exist on 25 December 1940.

Aircraft totals differ: mil.lv gives 60 operational aircraft in 1939, Wikipedia about 130 in 1940, probably counting trainers and Aizsargi aircraft.

Flying for
Latvian Aviation Regiment
Where
Latvia
Alongside
No allied air arm
Against
Soviet Union
Aircraft
Gloster Gladiator, Letov Š-16L, Fairey Seal
Sorties
0No combat sorties recorded.
Losses
About 60 (mil.lv, 1939) to 130 (Wikipedia, 1940) aircraft were lost to Latvia; the air force history says personnel were deported, without a figure.
Sources
Nacionālie bruņotie spēki · Nacionālie bruņotie spēki · Wikipedia · Wikipedia · Wikipedia · Wikipedia
Air defence of the eastern borderdrones over LatgaleLatvian Air Force with NATO Baltic Air Policing 2024–2026 Allied Baltic Air Policing fighters 0

Radar detection, air picture and control from the Air Operations Centre; ground-based air defence along the border. The shoot-downs were made by allied fighters.

Latvia has no fighters, so the drones that began crossing its eastern border in 2024 were a test of its radars, its air operations centre and its allies. A Russian Shahed-type drone crashed in Gaigalava parish on 7 September 2024. In September 2025 the government closed an airspace zone along the Belarusian and Russian border, and NATO launched Eastern Sentry. In 2026 incidents grew: drones from Russia crashed in Latvia on 7 May, damaging oil tanks in Rēzekne; Baltic Air Policing fighters shot down a drone over Latgale on 8 June and another near Rugāji on 14 August. The Latvian armed forces later said the August drone was Ukrainian and had crossed from Belarus, probably diverted by Russian electronic warfare. Latvia blames Russia’s war and its electronic warfare for the incursions; the sources name no state as having deliberately targeted Latvia.

Outcome Ongoing. The eastern airspace zone was closed from 11 September 2025; drones were shot down on 8 June and 14 August 2026.

The ministry did not say which ally’s aircraft made the shoot-downs or from which base they flew.

Flying for
Latvian Air Force with NATO Baltic Air Policing
Where
Eastern Latvia
Alongside
NATO
Aircraft
Allied Baltic Air Policing fighters
Losses
0 aircraft · 0 killedNo Latvian losses reported. Oil storage tanks in Rēzekne were damaged by a drone on 7 May 2026.
Sources
MoD · MoD · MoD · MoD · MoD · MoD · MoD

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Sources & Further Reading

Every figure, checked

Figures verified 2026-09-29. Back to the Latvian Air Force.