Germany pulls its Eurofighter deployment from Poland as mission ends

Germany's Air Force has ended its deployment of several fighter jets in Poland designed to strengthen protection of NATO's eastern flank as the mission has ended, Poland's armed forces command said on X on Tuesday.

The Eurofighter mission at the Polish military air base in Malbork has been completed, the command said. "Their presence was an extremely important gesture of cooperation within the framework of collective defence," it said.

In December, the Bundeswehr sent the aircraft and a contingent of around 150 men and women, including not only pilots but also technicians, logisticians, site security personnel and military police, to Poland.

The deployment was a response to airspace violations by Russian fighter jets in the Baltic Sea region and the incursion of kamikaze drones into NATO territory.

The Malbork air base is around 60 kilometres south-east of Gdansk and 80 kilometres from Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.