RAF fighters intercept two Russian bombers near UK airspace

The RAF has been scrambled to intercept two Russian long-range bombers over the North Sea.

The bombers, Tupolev TU-160s, known to Nato as Blackjacks, were monitored on Monday as they flew down past Norway and Denmark and near the Netherlands.

Two Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth picked them up over the North Sea about 30 miles (48km) from UK airspace and escorted them.

Both the Russians and Nato, including Britain, routinely test one another’s reactions with such sorties, sometimes flying almost up to the boundaries of each other’s air space. The Blackjacks make flights close to UK airspace about eight to nine times a year.

Russian fighter planes tend not to use transponders – which alert other aircraft to their presence – and this policy can create problems for civilian planes in the area. The RAF escort is partly to alert other planes of the Russian presence.

Despite an increase in diplomatic tension between Russia and the west, the number of such sorties by Russia towards UK airspace has not increased. However, there has been a rise in activity by Russia around the Baltic states, where the RAF is also deployed.

An RAF spokesman said: “The Russian aircraft were initially monitored by a variety of friendly nation fighters and subsequently intercepted by the RAF in the North Sea. At no point did the Russian aircraft enter sovereign UK airspace.”