"RAF fighter jet scrambled as Russian bombers approach ..." Topic

…Scottish coast.

"The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that a RAF fighter jet was scrambled from a Scottish RAF base after a Russian bomber was detected in UK airspace.

A Typhoon fast attack jet was sent to investigate after radar operators detected two "unknown and unidentified" aircraft near the north of Scotland.

A defence spokesman said: "Typhoon quick reaction alert aircraft were launched today from RAF Leuchars to determine the identity of unknown aircraft that approached the Nato air policing area north of Scotland and could not be identified by other means.

"The aircraft were subsequently identified as Russian military aircraft. The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace at all times as they are perfectly entitled to do so…"

Full article here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

No big deal, they do it all the time to test our reaction times.

The writing on the tail is Cyrillic for "The Bonny Prince."

… or maybe VVS Russian (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily Rossii = Russian Air Force)

It clearly says BBC!

Dear Ed,

Oh no, the BBC is now sponsoring the Russian Air Force! Confirms a lot of conspiracy theories …

… but back on my planet, cyrillic characters BBC are sort of pronounced VVS.

Same way that the cyrillic
CCCP (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик) is pronounced
SSSR (Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublikor) which translates to the English
USSR (Union of …).

есть великий день(have a great day), Frank

So that is what the BBC stands for ;-)

… roll forward a couple of years and it could be … Scottish Air Force Typhoons today escorted one of Tsar Vladimir's Imperial Russian bombers. The Scottish MoD also alerted the Welsh and English authorities.

And of course It will have been watched with interest by the Danes, the Germans, the Poles and the Swedes. So its not really an emergency is it?

So, are you saying that the BBC is a bunch of Commies?

John,

the proof is self-evident – just look at the advertising on the Russian bomber. 8^)

Still sounds a bit like a return to the Cold War to me …

How can aircraft be detected in UK airspace if they remained in international airspace at all times?

Doug

"Scottish Air Force Typhoons"

Do you think Scotland will be able to afford Typhoons after independance? Scottish Sopwith Camels…

The RAF has been intercepting Bears over the North Sea for many decades, you never know if they aren't going to keep going and drop nuclear weapons on Faslane.

Visibility is a large part of credibility as far as this goes – pity we got rid of all our airborne nukes, sending a Vulcan or equivalent to patrol off Russia every time they sent one of theirs in our direction would have sent a good message.

Agree with you GarrisonMiniatures.

Amicalement
Armand

If that pic is anything to go by, what's with the red star on the tail? Or is that an 'very' old stock photograph? Gosh yer all looking for boggy men aren't you all.

elsyrsyn… I saw that as well. I think they probably tickled the UK defense net and approached, skirted, but did not enter UK airspace.

Sadly, TV reporters are among the most illiterate idiots when it comes to national security issues. Earlier this week we saw them shocked, shocked, that Spetsnaz operates under cover and often out of uniform.

Zargon,

The Russian Air Force "roundel" is currently link a minor change from the previous red star of Soviet days.

Looking at current Ground Forces, the Russian tricolour appears to have replaced the red star, when a national symbol is present at all (or maybe my eyesight is going …).

The Navy uses link just so they can merge in with the Scottish Navy (actually the Russian Navy has always used the St Andrews Cross or Andreyevsky flag).

Further more the red star has been out of service longer than the Typhoon has been in so it's not stock footage but a photoshop job.

Robert

Sorry folks, but despite what the current marking regs might say, Red Stars are still very much evident on the tails of Russian maritime patrol and strike aircraft.

As usual with journos, they have no clue re the difference between a 'National Air Defence Zone' and 'National Airspace'. Russian/Soviet aircraft have regularly entered the UK ADZ (about 9 times last year, iirc), but have never entered UK Airspace.

The UK ADZ is a buffer zone extending several hundred miles beyond UK Airspace, in which unidentified aircraft will be identified by Air Defence radar and intercepted by RAF QRA aircraft before they reach UK Airspace.

As has been said, this is entirely routine. There was a lull from the 1990s into the noughties, but the Russians renewed such activity at around the same time as Typhoon came into service.

The UK ADZ is a buffer zone extending several hundred miles beyond UK Airspace

AZZ: that thing that "we" (whoever we are) like to have, but dispute whenever "they" (whoever they are) establishes one we don't like.

Channel 4 News are the Commies OFM 😊

Darth,

The UK ADZ doesn't extend into or overlap other people's ADZs or airspace, unlike the one you're thinking of.