Estonia

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

A series of airspace violations of European countries by Russia has been described as “reckless” and “escalatory” by NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte.

Italian F-35s and Swedish JAS-39 Gripens were scrambled on Sept. 19 to respond to Russian MiG-31s that entered Estonian airspace.

A Slovakian-led research project to develop a hydrogen-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft has been approved to receive almost €60 million ($69 million) in European Union funding.

The fleet of CRJ-900NG regional jets operated by failed Estonian national carrier Nordica has been sold to a U.S. leasing and maintenance company.

Five additional NATO members have joined a coalition of western countries aiming to help Ukraine bolster its electronic warfare capabilities.

The UK defense ministry has launched a search to find a replacement for the British army’s Thales Watchkeeper uncrewed aircraft system.

The German measure passed March 18 with the support of 513 legislators, with 207 voting against.

Estonia’s Nordic Aviation Group (NAG) plans to file for bankruptcy, after a long-running attempt to privatize the state-owned company failed.

An alternative non-GPS approach system using ground-based radio signals has been installed at the eastern Estonian city's airport.

NATO has marked 20 years since establishing its Baltic Air Policing mission.

Greece and Turkey have joined the growing number of NATO alliance and non-alliance nations to sign up to the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative.

Estonia and Lithuania are each considering investing in airBaltic during the Latvian carrier’s upcoming flotation.

Ukraine’s allies need to make the war-torn nation’s ground-based air defenses sustainable, an Estonian defense report suggests.

The report, published Sept. 20, says that the state does not have the skills necessary to run an airline business.

Armasuisse, the Swiss Federal Office of Defense Procurement, has engaged Switzerland’s Dufour Aerospace to study a smaller version of its Aero2 eVTOL.

Estonia and Latvia are to jointly purchase the Diehl IRIS-T SLM medium-range, ground-based air defense system.

One of Europe’s best-known aviation figures, Jan Palmér, plans to retire.

The startup plans to fly between Germany and holiday destinations.

The airline is targeting further European route procurement contracts.

Riivo Tuvike also highlights leisure routes that were popular before the crisis but are currently unserved for 2021.

Hybrid carrier airBaltic’s strong return to growth since 2016 is helping to drive traffic in the Baltic country.