The French army carries out a mission every month on behalf of NATO using a maritime surveillance plane, Atlantique 2. franceinfo was able to witness one of these intelligence operations.
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The Baltic is a strategic sea of which all the bordering countries, with the exception of Russia, are now members of NATO. Extremely frequented by commercial ships, it is also a gigantic military theater where the Allied and Russian armies meet. Every month, the French army carries out a mission on behalf of NATO using a maritime surveillance plane, the Atlantic 2. Objective: to take stock of the situation and list all civil and military traffic on this sea.
The shadow of the plane is silhouetted against the flat waters of the Baltic. The sun crushes everything, and above 10,000 feet, the horizon becomes rounder. From the cockpit of the Atlantic 2, even to the naked eye, the view is staggering. And by adding the multitude of sensors present on board, nothing escapes, from the slightest piece of wood, to the slightest echo. The power of these sensors also makes it possible to see all the way inland.
“There are definitely Russian boats at sea. What will be interesting is relocating them. We will be able to take a snapshot of the entire Baltic Sea.”
Lieutenant Martin, captainat franceinfo
The plane’s mission that day: to establish for NATO a precise inventory of everything floating on the Baltic, both commercial and military vessels. The plane of a NATO ally approaches and a radio communication begins with an exchange of information. A few days ago, NATO carried out a large-scale exercise here and many ships are still in the area, reports Lieutenant Baptiste, tactical coordinator. “It’s always a game of cat and mouse with a large-scale exercise, Russian buildings nearby to show presence”.
In the passageway, around ten consoles and eight men, headsets on their heads, eyes glued to the screens, joysticks in their hands and computer keyboards. The camera scans the water surface at full speed. On the screen, the ultra-precise image of a ship is formed. “I have an operator who is analyzing, confirming the information that we are seeing, it is a Russian military vessel.”
The plane passes off the coast of the Kaliningrad enclave where Russia has a base. In the crew’s headsets, new voices: those of the Russian controllers. With the Atlantic 2, the exchange is factual and courteous.
“This is the key word of our presence: respect for international laws. We are there to assert a presence, but not to provoke an escalatory situation, so we will comply with strict international law for the evolution of the patrol” .
Lieutenant Baptisteat franceinfo
Activity in the Baltic is extremely important and closely scrutinized. On specialized sites, bloggers have reported in recent days the presence of a Russian spy ship approaching the German coast. In the Atlantic 2 computers, the harvest was good, hundreds of pieces of information, boats verified, around ten Russian military vessels spotted and identified, as well as submarines present on the surface. It is not here that the war is being fought, but in this sea, everyone observes each other, sniffs each other, shows each other or tests each other.