Lielvārde Airfield is a headache for the Russian General Staff

This event did not mean much to the people not well versed in the nuances of warfare. Some American box with four propellers arrived. Unloaded another box with six barrels. Politicians posed and then the boxes flew away. However, this event is closely related to the increase in Latvia's military capabilities, and therefore the level of stress in the Kremlin has increased. The dream of getting to Riga in a day will remain just a dream.

Lielvārde Air Base is a new target on the maps of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - it was announced by the Moscow propaganda office on Monday and retold by web crawlers. This statement is closely related to two other topical issues in Latvia's defense.

Commando and HIMARS arrived

On October 25, the military aircraft MC-130J Commando II of the US Special Operations Force in Europe landed at Spilve Airport - basically in the center of Riga. The aim of this visit was to demonstrate how quickly it is possible to bring the HIMARS missile artillery system to a specific location and launch it. The whole procedure, including putting the rocket launcher back on the plane, took 15 minutes. Both the Minister of Defense and the US Ambassador came to this small demonstration, and that is why it is so important. Depending on the modification, this artillery system can hit targets from a distance of 70 to 300 kilometers. It can load up to six rockets and then be reloaded again. It can destroy moving targets both at sea and on land. With this particular aircraft, the missile equipment can also be delivered to the opponent-controlled area, as it is able to fly very low - some tens of meters above the ground, avoiding radars. It can land even on 300 meters of gravel road. The Americans have many such planes and missiles, and with this demonstration, they have shown that the United States can offer operational assistance to the Baltic States in a short period of time. Another important fact is that the National Armed Forces themselves are going to buy HIMARS systems, of course, if Washington gives it the green light and if it manages to reserve the relevant position in the budget. Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks has announced that talks have already begun. By placing missiles even in the middle of Latvia, they can cover both the eastern perimeter, which is the main source of risk, and the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. But when placed at the border, the missile's radius extends into the territory of the potential enemy.

Finally there is somewhere to land

The allies have many different weapons, and it is crucial that they can be delivered to Latvia by air - quickly and safely. What would happen if that plane had to land in Latvia in the middle of the night in very bad weather? Spilve would not suit for it, but Lielvārde military airfield would. And that is exactly what the Kremlin is worried about right now. Under the guise of darkness, it is now possible to send virtually anything to Latvia - aircraft, combat vehicles, weapons.

This autumn, Lielvārde airfield has received the long-awaited instrument flight certificate.

The portal of the Ministry of Defense "Sargs" reported about this. Previously, the NAF Air Force airfield in Lielvārde had a certificate only for visual flights. In 2016, the equipment and the necessary infrastructure was installed for instrument flights, but the personnel still had to be trained, a special safety management system and procedures had to be introduced. This autumn, the European Aviation Safety Agency and the domestic aviation supervisory authorities finally certified the use of the aerodrome for 24-hour operation - so also in adverse weather conditions and during the dark hours of the day.

That's the reason

This is also the reason why Moscow is worried and why its propaganda offices have been instructed to keep writing about the fact that there is apartheid in Latvia and Nazi zombies are marching through the streets of Riga.

This is confirmed to Neatkarīgā by sources in defense structures. The instrument flight ability at a military airfield is a major challenge for an opponent. Now any allied aircraft can land there in any weather and situation - including the Commando on display in Spilve with everything in it:

"That's the reason. Now these birds, which can deploy missile artillery with a radius of 70-500 km in a few minutes, are a headache for the General Staff of the Russian Federation. All this destroys the demagoguery that they will come here and conquer the country in 24 hours. The price becomes very high. The Russians understand that it could turn into bloodshed for them and they would not be able to sell it to their society."

Thus, the headline in the Kremlin's media "Авиабаза Лиелварде - новая цель на картах Генштаба Вооруженных сил России" should be seen as a sign of a very significant increase in Latvia's defense capabilities.

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