As the United States prepares to hand over its lead role in NATO ’s Baltic air-policing mission, the air force has released dramatic footage showing exactly what happens when fighter jets are scrambled.

US pilots have been based in Lithuania for four months monitoring the airspace over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In that time pilots have been scrambled 30 times to intercept Russian forces, officials said.

On Friday the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) released footage of two “safe and standard” intercepts- one on November 23 and the other on December 13.

Both show Russian Navy SU-30 Flankers flying in international airspace near the Baltics without broadcasting the appropriate air traffic control codes.
The Russian Navy SU-30 Flankers were flying in international airspace near the Baltics without broadcasting the appropriate air traffic control codes
Cameras mounted inside the cockpits of the RAF F-15s show the pilots flying closely alongside the Russian Flankers

The jets also had no flight plan on file, according to USAFE officials.

Footage shows the pilots sprinting to their aircrafts as alarms warning of the unidentified jets blare out.

Cameras mounted inside the cockpits of the RAF F-15s show the pilots flying closely alongside the Russian Flankers and escorting them through the airspace.

Russian jets frequently fly from air bases in the north to the isolated Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea, according to USAFE officials.
Footage shows the pilots sprinting to their aircrafts as alarms warning of the unidentified jets blare out
US pilots have been based in Lithuania for four months monitoring the airspace over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

"Intercepts are a normal part of the Baltic air policing mission it is a routine thing and they are always conducted in a safe and professional manner," Lieutenant Colonel Cody Blake, 493rd Fighter Squadron commander, said.

The missions are vital to "ensure the sovereignty of the airspace for the Baltic countries", he added.

This week the US will hand the lead in the air-policing mission to Denmark.

Since 2004, 17 NATO countries have taken it in turns to police the airspace over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which do not possess fighter jets.
NATO fighter jets have been scrambled 30 times over the Baltic in the past four months

The US rotation as lead of the air-policing mission began in late August, just ahead of the Zapad 2017 exercise - a six-day Russian war game across the Lithuanian border in Belarus and western Russia.

Some 140 airmen and seven F-15C Eagles were deployed to the Siauliai Air Base.

It was one of the largest air-policing contingents in the mission’s history since countries typically deploy just four jets for a rotation, according to American military newspaper Star and Stripes.

In November the squadron scaled back to the normal four aircraft.