BRITAIN has sent five top of the range Apache attack helicopters to Estonia to scare off Russia.
Gavin Williamson saw the fighter planes head off from Suffolk today to fight the "very credible" threat from Putin.
They will form part of an ongoing mission to try and deter aggression from the Kremlin.
One of the drills will be a 14-nation strong exercise in Lithuania – called Exercise Iron Wolf.
Around 1,000 UK personnel have been deployed to the Baltics as part of the operation so far.
Mr Williamson promised the UK would stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of Nato in the three-month deployment of the Apaches.
He said: "It's a very credible threat that we see from Russia and part of the reason that we're deploying five Apache attack helicopters is making sure that we're constantly adapting to a changing situation, but this is about deterrents.
"This is about Nato nations standing together in unity as one and you see Great Britain playing the largest role in enhanced forward presence with the largest number of service personnel deployed.
"The enhancement of that deployment with the Apache attack helicopters is really vital and very, very important and it's been very warmly welcomed by so many nations."
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The Apaches will be supported in Estonia by Wildcat battlefield reconnaissance helicopters.
The deployment defensive is made up of several countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Britain, Canada, Germany and the US have troops in the nation to deter any potential aggression.
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