Media: US deploys submarine-hunter aircraft closer to Russian border
The United States has reportedly deployed military aircraft to Norway and carried out missions near Russian territory in the Baltic Sea.
As reported by Newsweek, the US Navy has stationed P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, designed for anti-submarine, anti-aircraft and reconnaissance missions, in Northern Europe. This happened at a time when NATO is strengthening its defences in the Baltic region against Russian threats to undersea cables and pipelines, and suspicious drone activity in Poland, Denmark and Norway.
The permanent deployment of US forces in support of NATO, including destroyers operating near Russia's Arctic region in late August, follows a sharp shift in US President Donald Trump's position on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Recently, he said that Ukraine can regain all the territories lost to Russia and is considering providing it with long-range cruise missiles.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment by email. The US Navy has not yet responded to a written request for comment.
Osinttechnical, an open-source intelligence analyst on X (Twitter), said on 26 September that satellite imagery showed what appears to be two or three P-8 aircraft near the military terminal at Oslo's Gardermoen Airport on 23 September.
Citing flight-tracking data, Osinttechnical said that one of the P-8s based in Oslo was sent by the US Navy to the Baltic Sea off the coast of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian Armed Forces' operational headquarters confirmed to local newspaper Dagbladet on Saturday that several US P-8 aircraft had flown from Oslo airport to support "allied activity" in close proximity to Norway.
Earlier photos showed that a US Navy P-8 deployed at Keflavik air base in Iceland took part in a NATO-led mission called Baltic Sentry in late July. The mission aimed to enhance NATO's ability to respond to destabilising actions.
It remains unclear whether the Pentagon will deploy additional units and assets to Europe in support of NATO's Baltic Sentry mission to protect allies in the region.