Flashpoint Latvia Episode 2 - Command Modern and Naval Operations - Close to the Tarantula's Fangs

This series is completely fictional. No political point is intended.

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If anything, this minor incident proved that NATO was not ready to confront the Russians in the Baltic region. In the screenshot above two RAF Typhoons (blue icons) equipped with Litening III EF Pods had scrambled from the Siauliai Airbase in Lithuania and intercepted a Russian Tarantul class missile corvette. This corvette went unaccounted for three hours, after departing from the Baltiysk Naval Base (red square in the bottom part of the screenshot) in Kaliningrad.

The meager resources at Siauliai, Lithuania. Just 4 RAF Typhoons, and 4 F-16AMs from the Portuguese Air Force. This aircraft were intended for air superiority and can't cope with naval missions. But it was too late, and the Russian Tarantul class had to be found.

The 8 NATO aircraft could keep up track with the Russian corvette for 6 hours or so, always at risk of triggering a major incident with the Russians. The jets had to fly relatively low to keep an eye, sometimes a too close eye for those not equipped with with the targeting pod. The information about the Russian warship relayed by the NATO pilots was only halfway useful (i.e. they reported bearing but not speed).

The Russian naval activity, although not unusual or particularly provoking, worried NATO commanders given the current events in the west of Latvia.


Cheers,