Two Italian Air Force F-35A fighters were scrambled from Amari Air Base in Estonia on August 13 under NATO’s Air Policing mission to intercept Russian fighters operating in the region, marking the first time Italian stealth fighters have been launched on an interception mission in the Baltic region.
This occurred just a day after the Hungarian Air Force deployed Gripen C/D fighters for a similar operation.
The Russian fighters in question were some of the oldest in the Russian Aerospace Forces’ inventory, including a Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighter, and a Su-24M strike fighter.
Both Russian fighter classes have rapidly been phased out of service over the past 15 years, and are expected to see their last units retired in the early 2030’s.
Both fighters in question were operating without flight plans or transponders, possibly to probe NATO defenses in the region.
The incident occurred at a time of high tensions between Russia and NATO members across Europe, as European states have provided tremendous material and manpower support to the ongoing Ukraine proxy war effort.
The F-35 has consistently won tenders across Europe, constraining locally built fighters and rival American fighters such as the F-18E/F to much smaller shares of the continent’s markets for fighter aircraft.
This has been a game changer for the balance of power between Russia and NATO, as the F-35 provides significantly superior capabilities to any other NATO or Russian fighter class?
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As the most advanced fifth generation fighter class fielded outside China, the F-35 is considered to provide a distinct advantage over Russian ‘4+ generation’ fighters such as the Su-35 and Su-30SM that form the backbone of its fleet, with discrepancies in stealth capabilities and in the sophistication of their sensors and avionics being significant.
Although the Soviet Union was previously expected to field a top tier fifth generation fighter from around the year 2000, the state’s disintegration and the economic and industrial decline that followed delayed this by over two decades, with the Russian Aerospace Forces fielding only a single regiment’s worth of Su-57 fifth generation fighters today.
The Russian Armed Forces accordingly rely much more heavily on a network of ground-based air defense systems to asymmetrically counter NATO air power.
Although the role of the Su-27 in the Russian fleet has diminished significantly, enhanced derivatives of the aircraft including the Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35 equip the large majority of fighter units.
Significant delays to the development of the Su-57 have forced the Russian Defense Ministry to significantly expand orders for the Su-30 and Su-35 beyond prior expectations.
A video released on January 10 has shown an unknown Russian fighter engaging an Italian Air Force F-35A fighter over the Baltic Sea, with the two aircraft seen flying in close proximity.
Little is known regarding the incident, with the class of Russian aircraft in question remaining unknown.
It was confirmed, however, that the fighter was a Russian Sukhoi, and while the deployment of Su-24M or Su-34 strike fighters designed by Sukhoi to shadow NATO aircraft remains highly unlikely, deployment of the Su-27 and its enhanced derivatives the Su-30SM and Su-35S remains likely.
Italy has been particularly active in deploying its sizeable and growing F-35 fleet to secure collective Western Bloc interests, including for air policing in Eastern Europe and for operations aimed at China and North Korea in East Asia.
The country was the first European NATO member to deploy F-35’s to Japan, with others such as the Netherlands following suit.
The fifth generation F-35 is by far the most capable fighter fielded anywhere in the Western world, and has consistently defeated all competition in tenders in which it has been permitted to compete.
While the Chinese J-20 and FC-31 are considered fully peer level competitors to the F-35, Russia relies on much older ‘4+ generation’ fighters that lack comparable levels of sophistication.
Although lacking the F-35’s cutting edge avionics and stealth capabilities, the Russian Su-30SM and Su-35 nevertheless have a number of advantages.
These include their far higher maneuverability levels at all speeds, their much larger radars well over twice the size of the F-35’s AN/APG-81, their ability to carry over twice as much ordinance in standard configuration, and their ranges which are close to double that of the American jet.
The Russian fighters are nevertheless expected to face a tremendous disadvantage in combat if facing the F-35 in open conflict, with Russia as a result relying much more heavily on ground based air defense systems such as the S-400 to protect its airspace, with fighters playing more minor supporting roles.
The Russian defense sector has also made considerable efforts to increase the production of its own fifth generation fighter, the Su-57, which represents a major leap in capabilities over the Su-30SM and Su-35, but has seen only a single battalion’s worth of aircraft produced so far.
Military Watch Magazine / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Russian aviation is better developed compared to the western technological advance.