Britain was forced to scramble two RAF fighter jets from an airbase in Scotland on Saturday as two Russian warplanes flew dangerously close to British airspace.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the jets successfully intercepted Russian planes after they were scrambled from Lossiemouth Royal Air Force base in north east Scotland on Saturday morning.
Presstv.com reports: The jets were dispatched “as part of the RAF’s Quick Reaction Alert in response to two Russian aircraft entering the UK’s airspace,” said the statement. “Both aircraft have now returned safely to RAF Lossiemouth.”
The air force also scrambled an Airbus Voyager KC3 tanker from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The tanker was tracked heading north before going into a holding pattern off the Aberdeenshire coast.
It was not the first time that Britain scrambled its jets to intercept Russian planes which usually pass near UK airspace.
Back in February, British aircraft were sent to monitor two Russian bombers near the UK’s airspace.
The Royal Air Force said at the time that the Tupolev TU-160 Blackjacks were in the UK’s “area of interest” but did not enter British territory.
NATO has increased the intercept of Russian aircraft in recent years due to heightened tensions between the Kremlin and the West over the Ukrainian crisis.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai