Estonia, Spain Defense Ministers Talk After Spanish Eurofighter Accidentally Fires Missile

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Estonia’s Minister of Defence, Jüri Luik talked Wednesday to Spanish Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles Fernández on the incident with the Spanish Eurofighter aircraft, which accidentally fired an air-to-air missile in the Estonian airspace during the exercise on Tuesday.

The Spanish Defence Minister regretted the incident had taken place during the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission. “We discussed the details of the incident and agreed to work closely in the ongoing search of the missile as well as on the investigation,” Minister of Defence, Jüri Luik said.

On Tuesday, a Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon 2000 jet accidentally fired an air-to-air missile during its training flight over southern Estonia, the Baltic state’s Defense Forces said in a statement.

“The AIM-120 AMRAAM missile is equipped with the self-destruction mechanism which ensures that it is destroyed while in the air in case of an accidental launch. However, it cannot be ruled out that the missile hit the ground. The missile, launched by the Spanish crew during a training flight near the Otepaa town, is 3.7 meters [12 feet] long, its diameter is 19 centimeters [7 inches],” the statement read.

On Wednesday, both ministers agreed that NATO´s Baltic Air Policing Mission has the key role securing the Alliance´s air space and assured its relevance. Spanish Eurofighter accidentally fired an air-to-air missile in the Estonian airspace in temporarily segregated south of Estonia. The flight path, location and status of the missile are currently under investigation. Missile has a built-in self-destruction mode, but it is not ruled out that it has landed on the ground.
The search for the missile is currently underway.

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