US defense budget law includes call for bolstering Baltic air policing mission

VILNIUS – US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night signed a law on the country's defense budget for the next year, adopted by the Congress. Among other things, it includes a call to change NATO's Baltic air policing mission's mandate into that of an air defense mission.

The law states that the American political and military leadership should "explore transitioning the Baltic air policing mission of NATO to a Baltic air defense mission".

Lithuanian officials have raised this issue during meetings with allies for several years now, seeking to plug one of the largest military loopholes.

The air policing mission's transition to an air defense mission would mean that fighter jets stationed in the Baltic mission for air policing would be able to carry out combat tasks in case of a crisis.

The Baltic states do not have fighter jets of their own. They have short-range air defense systems and are purchasing medium-range air defense systems but cannot afford long-range missiles, like Patriot, capable of downing aircraft and ballistic missiles.

NATO has been carrying out the Baltic air policing mission since 2004 when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the Alliance.

The new law, signed by President Trump, also includes a call for lawmakers to continue supporting the Baltic states. The document said such support should include "continuous and enduring presence of United States forces, training and support activities of United States special operations forces, and increased joint training and exercises to deter aggression, promote interoperability, build resilience, and enable NATO to take collective action if required".

Lithuania has failed to convince the United States to re-deploy American troops for permanent presence in the country.

A company of American troops in each of the three Baltic states were station from 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea until the fall of 2017 but the American troops were withdrawn after international NATO battalions were set up in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Now American troops come for training from their brigade deployed in Poland.

Under the new American law, the country's defense budget will stand at 716 billion US dollar next year.