NATO to deploy AWACS in Lithuania close to Russia to see everything from Arkhangelsk to Bryansk (video)
The Alliance wants to take a longer and deeper look at what is happening in Russia, so it is deploying two AWACS aircraft to the Baltic state
NATO is sending AWACS E-3 Sentry aircraft to Lithuania, where they will be stationed at Siauliai International Airport and will be “monitoring Russian military activities near the Alliance’s borders.”
According to official information, two aircraft will be involved in this mission, and the first E-3 Sentry is due to arrive today, September 28. And for NATO, and these aircraft belong to the Alliance as an organization, the start of basing these machines in a Baltic country almost close to Russia is extremely unusual.
Traditionally, E-3 Sentry patrols, including those near the Ukrainian border, are launched from Germany and detect air targets within 12 hours.
And the situation when such an aircraft is deployed so close to Russia can mean only one thing – the need to see much deeper towards Russia and save flight time. As for the range of the “view”, the E-3 Sentry AN/APY-1 radar officially has a viewing range of 375 km.
However, this official parameter specified by the US Air Force is the minimum and refers to low-altitude, small-sized targets. As for large high-altitude targets such as bombers, we are talking about over 500 km.
Thus, this range is absolutely sufficient to scan the airspace of the Baltic States and Finland to the depths of Arkhangelsk, Tver, and Bryansk from the airspace of the Baltic States and Finland.
