Hi, this is an article I came up on about the French mission in Lithuania, and the difficulties of accommodating to a new kind of weather -especially for the Rafale. Thought you guys might be interested, since it talks about your country from the POV of a foreign army.
Translation of the article in the comments.
Cheers!
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They are more used to the 45°C of the Arabian desert than the -10°C of the Baltic coast. For the pilots of the 30th fighter wing of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) as well as for their Rafale, the eAP (Enhanced Air Policing) mission that they have been carrying out since December and until April in Šiauliai in Lithuania is a first.
Although this is the ninth participation of the French Air Force in eAP since 2014, and the sixth in Lithuania, France did not send its Rafales for these long-duration missions – except once in 2014 when it was still called Balting Air Policing (BAP) and that was in May – but Mirage aircraft, as in spring 2022 in Estonia.
“The main novelty for us is the change of environment and temperature, with wind and snowfall,” explains Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan, the head of the French detachment, commander of the 2-30 Normandy-Niemen fighter regiment, and one of the six pilots from BA 118 based in Šiauliai. Pilots whose main external operations so far have been carried out within the framework of Chammal in Iraq and Syria, “whether from the projected air base in Jordan or from Al Dhafra in the Emirates, since this is the place where the Rafales have been most engaged since 2016.”
In Lithuania, the snow has been so heavy at times since December that “even though the snow plough was running all night, we couldn’t take off some mornings,” explains Lt. Fortunately, only exercises were scheduled on those days. “If there had been real alerts, we would have adapted our rules of course.
As for the blue sky, the French fighters saw it mostly from their cockpits. “Over the two and a half months spent on the base, we must have had four times blue sky. We didn’t expect to see so little sunshine…” admits the officer. “We have wind, very low ceilings, snow… The weather is very different from what we usually experience. We were a bit impressed, but we quickly got used to it,” adds Captain Mickaël, pilot at the 3/30 Lorraine squadron.
At night, temperatures can drop to -15°C. But only the soldiers on duty sleep in the prefabs of the air base, the others are accommodated in the hotels of Šiauliai, a small town that lives at the rhythm of the Nato detachments on site.
And the aircraft? The Rafale has already been subjected to such weather conditions, or worse, notably during two week-long deployments to Finland this winter. But this is the first time it has been in such conditions for such a long time, four months in all, as the French duty in Šiauliai ends on 1 April. If the pilots are relieved halfway through their term, the aircraft remain in place. “We just have to make sure that we close the hangars in which they are positioned to maintain a correct temperature and prevent the hydraulic systems from freezing.
“With the cold, we pay attention to some small things, because the recurring breakdowns – details – will not be the same as in the desert,” continues the sergeant “G5”, a tracker. “It’s more up to us to adapt” adds the mechanic, whose mission is to check the aircraft before and after the flight.
The French contingent in Lithuania has about 100 soldiers. “We have about 50 mechanics with us, information and communication system specialists to communicate with our NATO partners, firefighters who are specialists in Rafale rescue and who have organised training sessions with Lithuanian firefighters, and all the logistics that are a big part of this kind of mission,” said the head of the detachment.
Fuel is provided by the host nation, but the French have brought along “two members of the Operational Energy Service (SEO) who collect and control the fuel, to check that the standards are respected. Fusiliers commandos (fuscos) from the French Air Force are also on site to ensure the security of the fighter planes and weapons day and night.
For its Baltic airspace control missions, the Rafale systematically takes off armed. “We put in infrared and electromagnetic missiles as well as an armed cannon, and all the decoy and protection systems for the aircraft in case of an external threat,” describes a weapons mechanic, whose role is also to “check on the aircraft’s departure that all the electrical safety devices are removed and that the weapons are intact. The effects of the weather? Everything is done to ensure that it works even in the cold,” smiles the mechanic.
Appreciate it you shared it here!
This winter is rather mild, January being particularly warmer than long term average, hitting all time warmth records at some days.
The most beautiful jet flying <3