Aboard: On a NATO surveillance aircraft about 10,000 meters in eastern Poland, air force officers from six countries scanned the screen to ensure any signs of Russian aircraft violating the alliance’s borders.
Two Russian fighters threatened to be exposed on Friday violation Estonian airspace for 12 minutes forced NATO to rush to trigger statements throughout Europe. Now the sky appears calm – but the crew is still attentive. “If there is any air threat to NATO, we want to make sure we discover it as much as possible,” said Colonel Mike Belizaire, a German official.
“Our mission is to provide early warnings to provide authorized commanders with more time to decide how they choose to respond.” The invasion of Estonia is the latest in the incident, which has sparked concerns war In Ukraine, the borders of the alliance may be overflowed.
A few days ago, NATO jets had shoot down Russia’s drones are first and foremost a watershed in the Western military alliance. In response, NATO’s supreme commander ordered a new mission to strengthen the eastern side defenses that have been established since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Fighters from countries including France and Germany were sent to Poland.
“We have been in Poland for several years to protect NATO countries,” said Captain Joel, chief pilot of Belgium who monitors the plane.
“But what happened in Poland actually reminds everyone that something could happen, which is why we’re here again today to see what’s going on to keep NATO’s sky protected.” The eight-hour flight from a German base to eastern Poland is one of NATO’s 14 centrally owned AWAC airborne warning and control aircraft under an umbrella in the eastern center.
The awkward radar on the plane (called NATO’s “Eyes in the Sky”) has a range of about 500 kilometers, allowing the crew to stare at the hostile territory in Belarus and Russia’s Kalininginggrad region. Aircraft can detect objects the size of a large bird. “It’s basically physics, and when you’re higher, you’ll see further,” Joel said.
“This means we can add more systems to the ground.” The screen on the ship is dotted with dozens of flashing blades, showing aerial activity in the region that stretches from southern Sweden to western Ukraine.
Aaron Peace, the U.S. Air Force surveillance operator, said it would take him 30 seconds to evaluate whether unknown objects represented by the radar are potential threats.
If an imminent threat is detected, the warning is transmitted to the NATO commander on the ground to decide how to react. NATO, with its AWACS aircraft and other intelligence capabilities, indicated a clear picture in the East. However, the recent crossing of low-cost drones over Poland by the Ukrainian war posed a problem. “Their flights are indeed different,” said Sergeant Peace, a staff member from New Mexico.
“The AWAC was built to track higher-speed, faster aircraft, so these smaller, moving objects would certainly pose a greater challenge to track and identify. But we can see them.” While NATO may be able to monitor what is happening, ask questions about whether there are the right equipment to fight the dominant drones on the Ukrainian battlefield.
In Poland, it uses the most modern F-35 jets to shoot expensive missiles to take away drones. “Of course, we realize that the best way to defeat a drone is not to launch a very expensive missile from a very expensive aircraft,” a NATO official said.
Posted at Dawn on September 21, 2025
