NATO On Patrol

Founded in 1949 at the start of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has kept watch over the European continent and adjoining areas ever since.

In March 2004, NATO jets took to the skies over the alliance’s newest members in the Baltic region to protect their airspace. Since then, NATO airpower has remained on patrol and, as Russian aggression threatened more alliance members in eastern Europe, its protective air shield has been spread over them too.

In NATO on Patrol, we tell the story of alliance air patrols in eastern Europe, talk to pilots who fly these missions, and the commanders who direct the air defence of NATO’s eastern border. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO has expanded its air patrols and has been joined by Swedish and Finnish aircraft as the two Nordic nations opted to join the alliance.