It was a busy afternoon over the Baltic. In a single day, NATO fighters scrambled to intercept six Russian military aircraft — a fighter, a strike jet, and a reconnaissance plane among them — flying four different kinds of mission at once.

On June 2, 2026, French and Swedish jets operating under NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission launched from Lithuania to identify and shadow the Russian formation, which included an Su-35 fighter, an Su-34 strike aircraft and an An-30 reconnaissance plane. NATO Air Command described a breadth of activity — air superiority, strike, transport and reconnaissance simultaneously — unusual for a single day since the alliance expanded its Baltic presence after 2022.

Transponders Off, No Flight Plans

The pattern is by now familiar to NATO crews: Russian aircraft transiting to and from the Kaliningrad exclave with transponders switched off, no flight plans filed, and no radio contact with regional air traffic control. That makes them invisible to civilian systems and a hazard to airliners sharing the same crowded skies — which is precisely why fighters are sent up to see them with human eyes.

A Mission That Never Stops

Baltic Air Policing has run continuously since 2004, but the pace has surged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sweden’s accession to NATO added Gripens to the rota and stretched alliance radar coverage across the whole sea. Days like June 2 — multiple Russian types, multiple missions, one scramble — are a reminder that the quietest-looking corner of the map is one of the most closely watched.

Sources: NATO Air Command; Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence; Euromaidan Press; Defence Blog.