Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fighters from the United Kingdom were scrambled twice within a 24-hour period to intercept Russian aircraft approaching NATO airspace.
Source: Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom.
Last night, Swedish Air Force joined the British RAF aircraft, based in Estonia, for the interception of Russian aircraft, including Il-20 and Su-27, that approached NATO and Swedish airspace. In the morning of June 9, Typhoon aircraft were scrambled to intercept an An-12 aircraft and an An-72 aircraft, which were heading from mainland Russia towards the Kaliningrad region.
Later, the fighters received a new task to intercept two Tu-22M and two Su-30SM aircraft flying south from mainland Russia over the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Portuguese and Romanian F-16 fighters based at the Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania were also scrambled to accompany the Russian aircraft.
“These interceptions serve as a stern reminder that the Royal Air Force is always ready to defend our skies and the skies of our allies, and the coordinated actions of multiple air forces serve as a vivid demonstration of the value of our international alliances,” said UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace.
Russia has started to use its airbase near the Arctic Circle more actively
The airbase is located just 200 km from NATO member countries Finland and Norway. The 3,500-meter-long runway typically serves a small fleet of older supersonic bombers, Tu-22M, and a few military transport aircraft, An-12.
However, since autumn 2022, it has been used more actively. The first four Tu-160 strategic bombers arrived in August, and by October, more than ten Tu-95 and Tu-160 aircraft had been deployed.
The strategic bombers currently being deployed near the Arctic Circle were previously based in Engels near the city of Saratov. This base, located 600 km away from the Ukrainian border, proved vulnerable to drone attacks, which damaged two Tu-95 aircraft last December.