NATO aircraft completed 370 missions in 2021. The alliance explained why the figure turned out exactly like this. Why the number of sorties of NATO combat aircraft has grown “Why the number of sorties of NATO combat aircraft has increased />
NATO said that it mainly took its aircraft into the air to accompany Russian aircraft. In 2021, 290 flights were flown for this reason.
Interceptions were most often carried out when Russian planes were “too close” to the borders of any state that is part of the alliance. Most often this happened over the Baltic Sea, near Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian airspace.
However, Russian aircraft “almost never” crossed borders, so the escort took place without extraordinary events. NATO aircraft approached the Russians, identified the type of aircraft and accompanied it until the pilots left the area adjacent to the border.
Source: Voennoye Obozreniye