By Skies Magazine | April 21, 2014 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 16 seconds.
NATO is looking to bolster its military presence in Central and Eastern Europe, and it has called upon Canada for assistance.
On April 17, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets and about 20 personnel would be deployed to support NATO efforts. The Canadian jets could be based in Lask, Poland, while officers will reportedly be sent to assist at NATO supreme headquarters near Mons, Belgium.
“Canada continues to strongly condemn Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukraine and its ongoing aggressive military provocation,” said Harper. “Along with our NATO allies, we recognize the need to enhance security and stability in Central and Eastern Europe.”
While Ukraine is not a NATO member state and therefore does not quality for automatic protection, the neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania and the Baltic states are allied with NATO. The Canadian resources are being deployed as part of a larger effort to reassure those allies closest to the conflict that NATO would defend them if necessary. Under the NATO agreement, an attack against one member is considered an attack against all members.
Several other allied countries have also committed military assets, including the United States. NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced on April 16 that air policing efforts and AWACS surveillance over the Baltic states had been enhanced. “You will see deployments at sea, in the air, on land to take place immediately,” he said. “That means within days, pending of course practical… a number of practical considerations. But we have decided to implement immediately.”
A senior public affairs officer at 1 Canadian Air Division told Skies on April 21 that no new information was available, and that plans for the Canadian deployment were still being coordinated with NATO.
