Additional NATO assets are being deployed to the alliance’s eastern flank, following recent drone incursions made by Russia into Polish and Romanian territory.

Extra fighter aircraft contributions by four nations have been announced as part of the new ‘Eastern Sentry’ activity.

“Denmark will contribute two [Lockheed Martin] F-16s and an anti-air warfare frigate, France will contribute three [Dassault Aviation] Rafales, and Germany will contribute four Eurofighters,” NATO announced on 12 September.

On 15 September, the UK Ministry of Defence also confirmed that “Royal Air Force Typhoons will join allies and fly air defence missions over Poland”, without disclosing the number of jets to be involved.

The western military organisation says the contributions “will reinforce existing allied forces and enhance NATO’s deterrence and defensive posture where and when needed”.

Intended to “strengthen its posture”, the activity “will commence in the coming days and continue for an undisclosed amount of time”.

Referring to the multiple drones which entered Polish airspace on 10 September, NATO secretary general Mark Rutte states: “Russia’s recklessness in the air along our eastern flank is increasing in frequency.

“We have seen drones violate our airspace in Romania, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Whether intentional or not, it is dangerous, and unacceptable.”

The fresh aircraft contributions are being made to further bolster the multi-national deployment of allied combat aircraft to NATO’s eastern flank with Russia.

Additionally, NATO states that its Allied Command Operations branch will “work closely with Allied Command Transformation… to rapidly experiment [with] and field new technologies at alliance-wide scale, such as counter-drone sensors and weapons to detect, track and kill drones”.