Two Hungarian Gripen fighters participating in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission scrambled on 25 September from Šiauliai, Lithuania, in response to a Russian Su-30, Su-35, and three MiG-31s flying close to Latvian airspace.
‘Hungary demonstrates the Alliance’s commitment to protecting and safeguarding the Baltics and NATO’s eastern flank,’ NATO Air Command wrote in a post on X after the incident.
Following the Russian drone incursion into Poland earlier in September, Moscow appears to be testing NATO and EU responses to such incidents, with similar incursions reported from Romania and the Baltic states in recent weeks. These incidents carry a dangerous escalation potential: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently threatened Moscow that Poland would shoot down Russian aircraft if they violated its airspace. Moscow responded by warning that such a move would be followed by ‘war’.
Hungary continues to play an active role in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission. In August 2025, it took command of the Baltic rotation for the fourth time, deploying four JAS-39C Gripen fighters from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania, with logistical and air support provided by Spain and Italy.
At the same time, Hungary faces heavy criticism within NATO and the EU for its pro-peace stance on the war in Ukraine, with the harshest reproaches, ironically, coming from the Baltic states. In August, Budapest banned the commander of a Ukrainian drone unit responsible for strikes on the Druzhba pipeline—threatening Hungary’s energy security—from entering the country. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys called the decision a ‘shameful act’.
After NATO Air Command’s post, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó mocked his Baltic counterparts, calling out their hypocrisy towards Hungary. ‘Looking for statements from Baltic foreign ministers…somehow can’t find them this time,’ he wrote in a post on X.
The 25 September incident was not the first time Hungarian Gripens had to deal with Russian fighter jets. As Hungarian Conservative reported, on 8 August the Baltic Air Defence Readiness Unit of the Hungarian Defence Forces carried out their first live Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) scramble. The live alert was triggered by an unidentified aircraft unwilling to engage in radio communications with air traffic control while entering international airspace above the Baltic Sea. The Hungarian fighter jets successfully intercepted what was later identified as a Russian aircraft at 11:26pm local time, at an altitude of 11,000 metres (36,000 feet), in accordance with international procedural rules. After the interception and identification, the jets safely returned to their base in Lithuania.
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