TALLINN, April 7 (RIA Novosti) - Two U.S. F-16
fighter jets brought to Tallinn for Tuesday's NATO air
exercises have remained on the ground due to low-lying clouds
and poor visibility, Estonia's Ministry of Defense said.
The Western military alliance said earlier this month that
during the Baltic Air Sovereignty Training Event II (BAST-E
II), "the populations of the Estonian and Lithuanian Capitals
may well see NATO fighter aircraft overfly their cities."
The Estonian ministry said the aircraft being used in the
drills are F-16s from the U.S., Poland and Denmark, L-159
training aircraft from the Czech Republic and L-39s from
Lithuania, as well as transportation AN-2s from Estonia, and a
U.S. AWACS E-3A surveillance plane.
The exercises are a continuation of drills held last
October.
A NATO agreement on airspace security over Lithuania,
Latvia and Estonia is set to expire in 2011, and the three
countries are currently pushing for the agreement to be
extended to 2018.
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