Moment Brit and German warplanes intercept Russian jets and a spy plane over the Baltic in latest tense encounter in the skies
This is the moment British and German warplanes intercepted two Russian jets and a spy plane over the Baltic Sea in the latest tense encounter in the skies between Moscow and the West.
Germany and Britain sent Eurofighter jets to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 Coot-A intelligence plane, the German air force said on Twitter.
‘Reconnaissance flights intercepted. German and British Eurofighters were alerted to identify three military aircraft. The two SU-27 Flankers and a IL-20 from Russia were flying again without transponder signals in international airspace over the Baltic Sea,’ said the air force.
These intelligence planes are designed to soak up enemy communications and signals for analysis.
As a NATO member, Germany participates in monitoring the air space over the Baltic states.
Germany handed over responsibility for NATO’s Baltic air policing mission to Britain earlier this month. NATO allies pitch in to protect the air space there because Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia do not have their own fighter jets.
Germany and Britain sent Eurofighter jets to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft (pictured)
British and German warplanes intercepted two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft (pictured)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft is pictured over the Baltic Sea after being intercepted by UK and German warplanes
Security has been heightened for the Baltic states after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Russian military aircraft regularly fly from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad and back, meaning that such encounters are fairly routine in the region.
Indeed, Russian military jets have repeatedly strayed into the airspace over the Baltic Sea in recent months. Today’s intercept is the sixth time German and British planes have come into contact with Russian planes near NATO airspace in just two months.
Last week, the UK’s Typhoon jets teamed up with Germany’s Air Force to intercept another Russian spy aircraft and a pair of fighter planes over the Baltic Sea.
One of the aircraft was identified to be a Russian Air Force IL-20 Coot-A intelligence plane headed for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad which borders Poland. It was being escorted by Su-27 Flanker-B fighter jets.
It came after leaked Pentagon documents, released this month, claimed one of Moscow’s fighter jets almost shot down an RAF spy plane over the Black Sea last year – an incident which could have dragged Britain into the war in Ukraine.
On September 29, an RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft was flying through international airspace close to the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula when it was buzzed by a squadron of Moscow’s Su-27 fighters.
At the time, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged the incident, telling Parliament that the Russian jets ‘recklessly’ came within 15ft of the RAF plane and one ‘released a missile in the vicinity’.
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu blamed a technical malfunction and Wallace, having spoken with other Russian defence officials, accepted the explanation and drew a line under the incident.
But leaked US military documents have now revealed that the missile launch came agonisingly close to striking the RAF aircraft in an incident that was described as ‘a near-shoot down of UK RJ (Rivet Joint)’.
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