Referring to the paragraph about "a new air defense agreement between the three Baltic states," published in The Baltic Times (March 8-14, 2007. Vol.10 #547; p. 4), the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense would like to draw your attention to a few inaccuracies that appeared in it.
The agreement signed between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Wiesbaden on March 2 replaces, as was mentioned in the message, the 1998 agreement on BALTNET, in order to reflect the current situation and give legal basis for the establishment of Control and Reporting Center (CRC) for the purpose of controlling NATO fighters patrolling in the Baltic states.
Previously the control of NATO fighters was performed by the Air Mission Control Unit (Karmelava). NATO standards foresee that air space surveillance and control of fighters should be done in one center, thus the Regional Air Space Survei-llance Coordination Center (Karmelava) and the Air Mission Control Unit were replaced by single CRC. Such centers are established in all NATO member states and ensure the sovereignty of air space more effectively. Thus the new agreement is not about the air defense, but about more effective air space surveillance and control.
Jovita Bazeviciute,
Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania
Public Relations Department
