RAF fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept Russian bombers spotted off the UK coast. The Typhoons were launched from RAF Lossiemouth this afternoon after the Russian planes entered Nato airspace over the North Sea. The Russian planes were spotted off the North East coast of Scotland shortly before midday. And it’s understood that the […]
RAF fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept Russian bombers spotted off the UK coast.
The Typhoons were launched from RAF Lossiemouth this afternoon after the Russian planes entered Nato airspace over the North Sea.
The Russian planes were spotted off the North East coast of Scotland shortly before midday.
And it’s understood that the jets intercepted the bombers over the North Sea around 12.17pm.
It’s the second such incident involving Russian bombers in as many days.
The Typhoons returned to Lossiemouth around 2.17pm, with the bombers spotted heading towards the Norwegian Sea shortly before 2pm.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Our brave RAF pilots have shown again that we are ready to respond to any threat to the UK.
“Alongside our NATO allies, we must remain vigilant and aware of Russian military activity.
“The RAF routinely identify, intercept and escort Russian aircraft that transit international airspace within proximity to the UK’s area of interest and continue to be on call every day.
“This is the second time this week RAF aircraft have taken to the air to investigate Russian activity, following a similar incident on Wednesday evening, but on that occasion an intercept by the Typhoons was not necessary”.
We told you yesterday how jets were scrambled last night to intercept two Russian nuke bombers near Shetland.
Scots based Typhoon fighters were scrambled to join NATO forces challenging the Bears as they approached Nato airspace in the Atlantic.
A military source has described the incident as a “destabilising pre-Brexit incursion” as crunch talks over the UK’s future in Europe continue at Westminster.
Nato confirmed Russian Tu-142F aircrafts were flying in international airspace off the Norwegian coast towards Iceland.
And flight trackers showed UK air forces passing the Orkney and Shetland islands en route to the incident last night.
The Russians were then intercepted by several Nato quick reaction alert aircrafts for visual identification.
One military source said: “On their part this was a destabilising pre-Brexit incursion.
“The facts of the matter though are this kind of aggressive behaviour is now to be expected of them.
“Recently we’ve seen a growing number of these kind of flights into UK airspace.
“It’s a show of arms but one we’ve always countered and have always been ready for.
“Their military machine thinks testing our reaction times tells them everything it needs to know about us and our defences. But it doesn’t.
“It actually tells us far more about their method of working, which is a weakness on their part.”
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