British and German Eurofighters intercept Russian jets
Updated on 04/18/2023 – 07:27Reading time: 1 Min.
Fighter aircraft of the Royal Air Force (symbolic image): Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft rose over the Baltic Sea. (Source: Björn Trotsky/imago images)
British and German jets intercepted three Russian planes over the Baltic Sea. It is the fifth incident of this kind.
Fighter jets from the British and German military took off over the Baltic Sea on Friday to intercept several initially unidentified aircraft near NATO airspace. As it turned out, the British Royal Air Force said it was three Russian jets.
One of the Russian machines, an IL_20 Coot-A reconnaissance aircraft, was on a transfer flight from the Russian mainland to the Kaliningrad exclave. She was accompanied by two SU-27 Flanker-B fighter jets from Kaliningrad.
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The German and British planes would have escorted the Russian through the Estonian flight information area until the Swedish Air Force took over. Sweden is not yet part of NATO, and Turkey has so far blocked the admission process.
A Royal Air Force pilot involved is quoted in the British statement. He reports that Russian military aircraft fly more frequently over the Baltic Sea, so it was a routine maneuver.
The Royal Air Force and Air Force have been operating jointly from Estonia since March as part of Operation Azotize to protect NATO’s Baltic airspace. It was the fifth joint intercept flight, it said.
