ERR News -  The US announced that the Ukrainian crisis has moved it to more than double the number of fighters on the Baltic Air Policing mission.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed the plan on Wednesday, March 5, according to Reuters.

A NATO official, speaking off the record, told the news service that the Pentagon would dispatch an additional six F-15s and a KC-135 refuelling plane.

The US currently contributes four F-15s for patrolling Baltic airspace. The mission was extended indefinitely at the Chicago summit in 2012.