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SIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania (AP) -- Two F-4 Phantom jet fighters under NATO control streaked off the runway at a former Soviet air base in Lithuania this week in response to a report that an aircraft had lost communications as it neared Finnish airspace.

It was all an exercise a simulation but one with a point beyond mere rehearsal: NATO officials hope that, at a summit in Chicago this May, member nations will put aside concerns over sovereignty and agree in principle to create joint defense capabilities.

The idea is that, in a time of dwindling defense budgets, it makes sense to have coordinated programs in which specific countries agree to buy certain weapons systems and forgo others to create a coherent whole.

The economic arguments are strong. Twenty of NATO's 28 member countries cut their defense budgets between 2008 and 2011. And greater military integration in Europe would be of a piece with the greater economic integration that is emerging as a response to the continent's financial crisis.

But defense is a closely guarded national prerogative, and the outcome is far from certain. A NATO official said earlier this week that no specifics would emerge from the summit in Chicago.

Instead, he said, NATO officials hope for a "public declaration of how far we're prepared to go as an alliance." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of NATO rules.

The exercise in Lithuania involved German F-4 Phantom fighter planes at a Lithuanian air base cooperating with F-18 Hornet fighters from Finland a country that cooperates with NATO but is not a member.

Since 2004, different NATO countries have been policing the airspace over the Baltic countries, all three of which Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are small former Soviet republics that are now members of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In microcosm, the security arrangements for the Baltics are similar to what NATO officials wish for the entire alliance. The three Baltic countries cannot do their own air policing. Lithuania, for example, used to have six L-39 training jets. But four have been grounded, one has crashed, and now the country's air force is down to just one jet.

The defense budget is shrinking, and fighter planes cost many millions of dollars each.

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NATO: Member nations should share military systems

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Home » Exercise Programs » NATO: Member nations should share military systems