A complex geopolitical situation is forcing the Baltic States and their NATO allies to take unprecedented steps to increase defense capabilities and counter potential aggressors. A new Lithuanian military strategy approved in March describes Russian actions along with terrorism as the main threats for the security of Lithuania, as reported by Delfi.
Unfortunately for the pacifists, the Alliance and Russia today are arming and demonstrating their respective military power. They constantly compare their armed forces’ strength and capabilities, conduct large-scale military exercises, respond to each other by deploying new contingents and military equipment closer and closer to the NATO-Russian border.
The Baltic States have become such a border.
Moscow has placed Iskander-M launchers in Kaliningrad. The Russian Iskander is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has never been made available to any foreign army for operational use. The weapon affords Russia the ability to use its Baltic enclave to threaten US missile defense installations in Poland and more generally to intimidate its neighbors – the Baltic States.
During combat operations, it would be used to destroy both stationary and moving targets. Targets would range from surface-to-air missile batteries, enemy short-range missiles, airfields, ports, command and communication centers, factories, and other hardened targets.
The commander of US military aviation in Europe and Africa, General Frank Gorenc, said the increasingly powerful Russian air defense raises serious concerns for US military aviation.
He said that the Pentagon is particularly concerned about the Russian air defense system in the Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave which borders Lithuania and Poland: “Russia now creates the strategy of limiting / blocking access. I do not remember anything else that would bother me as much as this strategy now and it worries me. Russian air defense in the Kaliningrad area increasingly threatens NATO military access to air space in parts Europe.”
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