BRUSSELS, 29 December 2021, (TON): NATO said “nearly 80% of NATO fighter jet missions across Europe were launched in response to Russian military aircraft flights in 2021.”

The military alliance announced in a press statement “NATO fighter jets scrambled around 370 times across Europe in 2021, mostly to check aircraft flying unannounced near Allied air space.”

According to NATO, 290 of the missions, which is 80% of the total deployments, were launched in response to flights by Russian military aircraft.

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu commented on the announcement “NATO fighter jets are on duty around the clock, ready to take off in case of unverified flights near the airspace of our Allies.”

Most of the unverified flights, unannounced military flights or civilian aircraft losing communication with air controllers, were intercepted in the Baltic region.

The statement added “only a very few intercepted flights could actually enter the airspace controlled by NATO since the jets identified them and escorted them out.”