The United States has reportedly deployed military aircraft capable of hunting submarines and spying to Norway and conducted missions near Russia's territory in the Baltic Sea.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministries via email for comment. The U.S. Navy did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
Why It Matters
The presence of a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, designed for anti-submarine, anti-surface and intelligence missions, in Northern Europe comes as NATO strengthens its defense posture across the Baltic region amid Russia's threat to undersea cables and pipelines and suspicious drone activity in Poland, Denmark and Norway.
The continuous U.S. military deployment in support of NATO, including destroyers operating near Russia's Arctic region in late August, follows President Donald Trump's sharp shift on the Russia-Ukraine war. He recently said Kyiv can reclaim all territory lost to Moscow and is weighing providing it with cruise missiles for long-range strikes.
What To Know
Osinttechnical, an open-source intelligence analyst on the social media platform X, said on Friday that satellite imagery likely showed two to three P-8 aircraft on the ground at the military terminal of Oslo's Gardermoen Airport on September 23.
Citing flight-tracking data, Osinttechnical said the U.S. Navy sent one of the Oslo-based P-8 aircraft to the Baltic Sea off the coast of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad—bordered by NATO allies Poland to the south and Lithuania to the north and east—on Friday.
Kaliningrad is a major Russian military outpost in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea, which has been labeled as "NATO lake" since Finland and Sweden joined the U.S.-led military alliance following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian armed forces' operational headquarters confirmed to local newspaper Dagbladet on Saturday that several American P-8 aircraft operated out of Gardermoen Airport to support "allied activity" in Norway's immediate areas.
Photos released earlier show that a U.S. Navy P-8 deployed at Keflavík Air Base in Iceland participated in a NATO-led mission, code-named Baltic Sentry, in late July. The mission aimed to improve NATO's ability to respond to destabilizing acts.
According to Boeing, the P-8 aircraft is capable of aerial refueling, enabling extended patrols over vast ocean areas. In addition to the U.S. Navy, other European operators include the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force.
What People Are Saying
A joint statement from the Baltic Sea NATO allies' summit in January read: "We welcome that NATO has launched the enhanced vigilance activity 'Baltic Sentry' to improve situational awareness and deter hostile activities. We welcome the efforts of allies to deploy additional assets at sea, in the air, on land and below the surface of the sea, to enhance vigilance and deterrence."
Boeing wrote on its website: "The P-8 accomplishes maritime [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] through a proven sensor suite of radar with inverse synthetic aperture radar, synthetic aperture radar, periscope, search and navigation. These systems are optimized for combat-ready maritime patrol in detecting, locating and tracking surface and undersea targets."
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether the Pentagon will deploy additional units and assets to Europe in support of NATO's Baltic Sentry mission to safeguard regional allies.
