British fighters intercepted Russian bombers near NATO airspace

On Monday (14), British Air Force F-16s intercepted two Russian bombers that approached NATO airspace (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Information has been released before Royal Air Force (RAF) from the United Kingdom.

Russian naval patrol aircraft TU-142 Bear-F and TU-142 Bear-J, used for reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare, were spotted by [caças] “The RAF Hurricanes are in international airspace as they pass over the north of the United Kingdom,” says a statement from the UK Ministry of Defense.

The Russian bombers have been identified by the Danish Air Force as they fly over the Baltic Sea towards the Netherlands. So the British were informed and made an interception later, when the two planes were flying north of the Shetland Islands, Scotland.

The British Ministry of Defense said: “This does not happen often, but today’s incident illustrates the importance of rapid mobilization.” “F-16s are on standby 24 hours a day and can take off in minutes and intercept an unknown aircraft.”

According to the commander of the air interception mission, who was not named, the incident occurred in the “early hours of the morning” local time. “Mission completed, the target aircraft has left the area of ​​interest to the UK,” he said.

Similar bouts have been repeated in recent weeks. The United States said in July that on six occasions Russian planes had flown “dangerously close” to manned and unmanned aircraft, endangering aircrews and raising concerns about how Washington would respond to harassment.

The British government emphasized that this behavior “may pose a risk to other aircraft”, since Russian aircraft often do not communicate their presence to air traffic control, which is a crucial warning for aircraft to be visible to users and other air traffic controllers.