Michael Claesson, Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Air Force, does not rule out the possibility that Swedish forces could find themselves in a situation where a decision would be made to shoot down Russian aircraft that violate NATO airspace, SVT reports.
“This decision must be made by the pilot of the aircraft in question,” Claesson said.
Recently a number of violations of NATO countries’ airspace have been recorded. These include confirmed Russian violations — for example, fighters that were in Estonian airspace for 12 minutes — as well as incursions by drones of unknown origin, which have affected, in particular, Denmark.
European countries, including Sweden, say they are prepared to defend their borders by military means if the violations continue.
Claesson stressed that Swedish forces would shoot down aircraft only as a last resort in the case of a serious violation.
“If you do not obey orders, the ultimate measure is the possibility of using force: first to identify, and then to open effective fire. In other words, to shoot down,” he said.
According to Claesson, ultimately the decision to open fire is made by the pilot of the aircraft facing the threat to the Swedish border.
“I believe our pilots have sufficient training and experience to make decisions in such situations,” the commander-in-chief said.
Escalation cannot be ruled out, but Claesson does not consider it the most likely outcome.
“I do not think Russia wants to go to war with NATO. I think they want to divide NATO politically, expose our weaknesses, exploit them and sow fear among our population,” he said.
