A Spanish fighter jet accidentally fired an air-to-air missile over Estonia on Tuesday during a routine NATO training mission, Spain's defense ministry said.

The Spanish Eurofighter jet, which is part of NATO's Baltic air-policing mission, fired the missile while carrying out an exercise with another Spanish Eurofighter and two French Mirage 2000 jets.

The air-to-air missile was fired "without causing any harm" and did not hit any aircraft, the Spanish defense ministry said in a statement. Following the accidental fire, the jets returned to an air base in northern Lithuania where they are based.

Searching for the missile

Estonia's military is now scouring the area around where it was fired, as it is potentially still armed. The AMRAAM-type missile is supposed to self-destruct during such accidents, but the device may have landed on the ground instead.

The missile was carrying up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives and was last located around 40 kilometers (24 miles) north of the Estonian city of Tartu.

Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas wrote on Facebook that there were "thank God no human casualties" and called the incident "extremely regrettable."

Neither Estonia, Lithuania nor Latvia have fighter jets of their own, making them dependent on NATO partners for air security.

Spain's Defense Ministry has opened an investigation to uncover how the Eurofighter jet could have accidentally fired the rocket.

Germany's NATO missions Germany's role in NATO West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.

Germany's NATO missions Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.

Germany's NATO missions Keeping the peace in Kosovo Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.

Germany's NATO missions Patrolling the Aegean Sea In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Germany's NATO missions More than a decade in Afghanistan In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Nearly a thousand soldiers are still deployed in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support.

Germany's NATO missions German tanks in Lithuania Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania so far in 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defence in a generation," according to NATO.

Germany's NATO missions Taking over the leadership The Bundeswehr is due to take over leadership of NATO's multinational Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) at the start of 2019. The rapid reaction force has been set up to counter potential Russian aggression on the alliance's eastern flank. Author: Lewis Sanders IV



rs/aw (AP, AFP, dpa)

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