Continued deployments of NATO air forces strongly demonstrate alliance commitment to Baltic allies. Yet deployments also reveal how much military resources are strained to fulfill political objectives. The following link provides additional background on the current Czech deployment in Lithuania.
From Flightglobal.com: “Although the detachment is stretching the Czech air force’s small fleet of fighters and testing its aged air transport fleet, the experience is an important one for a country just a decade into its NATO experience. The detachment is also a welcome opportunity for its fighter pilots – capped at flying an average of 150 flight hours a year at home – to taste deployed operational life for the first time. ” (photo via: flightglobal.com)