National Defence committee  Well, it's akin to a modern fighter, as we're flying, so I think NATO is well versed and prepared to respond to that threat.

National Defence committee  With respect to Baltic air policing, I was trying to highlight to you that to get from Russia proper to Kaliningrad, as an aviator, if I were flying a flight plan and I had overflight clearance of the Baltics, I could go in a straight line. But they don't do that because, certain

National Defence committee  It has not been to date, sir.

National Defence committee  I don't think I can really comment on how Russia may or may not see this activity. In an assurance piece, it is assuring our NATO allies. I suspect it may be affecting the calculus of Russia in this case, but that would simply be pure speculation on my part.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  No, absolutely. It all respected the terms of the Montreux convention, which speaks to the tonnage of a ship allowed into the Black Sea and the length of time and all of that.

National Defence committee  As an airman, in the vernacular, I'm familiar with the term. It would speak to flying close enough to someone that you would certainly give them cause to recognize your presence, so they're probably synonymous, sir. Again, I think what's more important to note on this is that th

National Defence committee  I don't have the exact details, sir.

National Defence committee  There are two air policing missions in NATO: the Icelandic air policing and the Baltic air policing. Those are the two active air policing missions, and you've described them accurately. They're from NATO allies that don't have a fighter capability, and it has helped to promote t

National Defence committee  Absolutely, sir.

National Defence committee  We have not intercepted any fighter aircraft in the Baltic up to this point, sir.

National Defence committee  That's right. As was reported in the press, HMCS Toronto was overflown by two MiG-31s, I would say. I'd have to refer to my notes, but it was a Russian fighter aircraft. It was not seen as a threatening posture. The aircraft wasn't armed. It's not unusual to investigate when in c

National Defence committee  That's right. Romania does fly former Russian aircraft as their front-line fighter. Undoubtedly, if you're on the borders of Russia, our new NATO allies—Romania, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic states—have very long memories of history. So there are traditional existential concerns

National Defence committee  Yes, sir, absolutely.

National Defence committee  Certainly from my perspective there's a fine line between deterrence and de-escalation. NATO had a couple of objectives. One was to reassure those Central European members of NATO that we've been discussing, but the second part was actually to also show the agility and flexibil