Lithuania has publicly urged its NATO allies to strengthen their military presence in the region and to reinforce the defense of Baltic airspace.

The call from Vilnius comes as the Baltic states continue to rely on NATO's rotating air-policing mission to secure their airspace, a arrangement that has been in place since 2004 when the three countries — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — joined the alliance without fighter aircraft of their own.

The request underscores the persistent gap between the air-defense needs of the Baltic front-line states and the assets allies currently commit to the region. NATO members have rotated detachments through Lithuania's Šiauliai air base and Estonia's Ämari base under the air-policing arrangement, but the Baltic governments have repeatedly argued that policing — a peacetime posture — no longer matches the threat environment on NATO's eastern flank.

Details of which specific capabilities or force levels Lithuania is seeking, and which allies have responded, were not disclosed in the initial report.

What is certain is the direction of travel: Vilnius wants more allied aircraft and a more robust defensive posture over Baltic airspace, and the demand will now move into NATO's internal planning discussions, where allies must weigh additional deployments against their own capacity constraints.

The coming months will show whether NATO converts Lithuania's appeal into enlarged rotations or enhanced readiness at the alliance's northeastern edge.