"Every Second Counts."

• 28.03.2026, 18:11

A German pilot told of sorties to escort Russian planes.

German military pilots are increasingly taking to the air to intercept Russian planes near NATO's eastern borders. A Bundeswehr pilot who serves at the Malbork base in Poland near the Kaliningrad region told BILD.

He said the alarm is announced regularly, and the time to take off is minutes.

"As soon as the bell rings, every second counts. We put on our vests, grab our helmets and run to the cars that will take us to the plane. We jump into the plane, the ground staff prepares everything, closes the cockpit and pulls the safety pins out of the missiles," said the pilot.

Already in the air, the mission becomes known: as a rule, we are talking about Russian military aircraft with transponders turned off, which are approaching NATO airspace.

"Of course, you see the weapons that the Russians have on board. In such a situation, you need to be able to act flexibly. We fly up, see what they are doing, fly alongside them for a while. I always have in my mind: we are all human beings, and so are the Russians. But in the end it's just a push of a button. And the missile is already flying," the pilot noted.

BILD reports that there are about 40 such sorties a month on NATO's eastern flank.