The Estonian newspaper said this is one of the results of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.

Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) told Postimees at the summit that the average person will not notice any big changes.

"The main difference lies in the details, specifically in the authorities granted to NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the authorities granted to the pilots," he said. "Understandably, we cannot go into those details, but there is now greater flexibility and faster response times."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) told Postimees that Estonia has been working towards this target since last year's 12-minute-long Russian fighter jet incursion into Estonian airspace.

"We also set the goal of transforming our air policing mission into an air defense mission," the foreign minister said, adding: "And that is exactly what we have achieved here."

Estonia's Ämari Air Base will now change in status from an auxiliary base to the original Baltic Air Policing base in Šiauliai, to a designated NATO operational air base, Postimees reported.

NATO's rotating Baltic Air Policing mission has been in force in the region since May 1, 2004, first in Lithuania and then in Estonia since 2015. Under the mission, allied countries take turns deploying fighter aircraft to patrol Baltic airspace.

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