On July 30th RAF Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets has successfully intercepted a Russian Su-24 Fencer aircraft operating near NATO airspace over the Black Sea.

The RAF Typhoon aircraft operated from the Romanian Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta on the Black Sea coast. British fighters were scrambled immediately when the suspected Russian aircraft took course straight towards NATO airspace over Romania. In the matter of minutes the S-24 has been intercepted, and the aircraft changed its course. 

The Russian jet was monitored by two Eurofighter Typhoon pilots from 135 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) as part of the NATO Enhanced Air Policing (EAP) mission that the RAF is currently carrying out in Romania.

According to the statement of the one of the British pilots: “The Russian aircraft did not enter NATO airspace so we were ordered to patrol the skies for a short period of time as a deterrent until finally returning to MK Air Base. We routinely conduct air policing in the UK so today’s event is familiar and went seamlessly.”

The RAF’s current NATO EAP mission in Romania is part of the alliance’s assurance measures introduced in 2014, when war in the Ukraine started. Due to increasing amount of Russian provocations, NATO began implementing the assurance measures with the aim of demonstrating the collective resolve of allies and the defensive nature of the alliance.

Author: Daniel Kasprzycki

Source: www.airforce-technology.com
Photo: A RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jet inflight (Wikimedia Commons)