Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur met yesterday in Tallinn with Dutch Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren, who announced that after the renovation of the Ämari runway, the Netherlands will deploy fifth generation F-35 stealth fighters to Estonia within NATO enhanced Air Policing.
“The Netherlands is the first country to take over Air Policing again at the renovated Ämari Air Base. It is noteworthy that this will be done with state-of-the-art stealth fighters,” said Minister of Defence Pevkur after the meeting.
During the meeting the ministers also discussed aid to Ukraine. “Like Estonia, the Netherlands has provided substantial military assistance to Ukraine, clearly demonstrating that we share similar values and a common understanding of the need to strengthen defence. I am also pleased that the Netherlands is contributing to the IT Coalition led by us and Luxembourg, through which we support Ukraine in developing its ICT capabilities,” commented Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.
Estonia and the Netherlands are the only two countries that are members of all the major defence cooperation formats in the region. Estonia has acquired a significant amount of technical equipment from the Netherlands, including armoured cars, ATVs and medical vehicles. Regionally, the Netherlands contributes to security within the framework of the NATO battlegroup in Lithuania. So far, the Netherlands has contributed to Baltic air security on four occasions.
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Photos: Minister of Defence Pevkur and Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren | Flickr