The Air Surveillance Wing (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

: ''Õhuseiredivisjon'' (ÕSD)) is one of the three wings of the

Estonian Air Force The Estonian Air Force ( et, Õhuvägi, ) is the aviation branch of the Estonian Defence Forces. The air force traces its history to 1918, and was re-established in its current form in 1991. As of 2016, the Estonian Air Force has a strength of ...

, and specializes in air surveillance.

Structure

The Air Surveillance Wing is made up of three groups: the ''Engineering and Technical Group'', which controls Estonia's five land based radars, the ''Ämari Command and Reporting Centre'', which runs the day-to-day air policing, and the ''Combined Command Reporting Centre'', centred in Lithuania, which controls the Baltic Air Surveillance Network, along with Lithuania and Latvia.

Service history

The Air Surveillance Wing was founded on 1 January 1998, and based at

Ämari Air Base Ämari Air Base is a military airbase in Harjumaa, Estonia located south of Lake Klooga and southwest of Tallinn. History Ämari Air Base was built between 1940–1952 under an agreement signed by the Estonian SSR and the Soviet Union. In 19 ...

, in Ämari, Estonia. The Air Surveillance Wing has worked alongside the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

and

Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force ( da, Flyvevåbnet, lit=The Flying weapon) (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of The Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Defence. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was ...

on Air Policing in Iceland. From 8 to 29 March 2010, the Air Surveillance Wing provided two ground-based intercept controllers to assist four Danish

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successf ...

s during their Air Policing Patrol.

Inventory

Currently the Air Surveillance Wing has 2

Aero L-39 Albatros The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced in Czechoslovakia by Aero Vodochody. It is the most widely used jet trainer in the world; in addition to performing basic and advanced pilot training, it has also flo ...

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Estonian Air Force