The Royal Air Force (RAF) has reportedly deployed Eurofighter Typhoon multirole combat jets to intercept suspected Russian jets, the UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The Eurofighters investigated the flight of the Russian fighter aircraft, which were spotted travelling in the vicinity of the UK’s airspace.
A UK Defence Ministry spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Typhoon fighters were scrambled today as a precautionary measure against a potential incursion into UK area of interest by one or more unidentified aircraft.”
He added: “At no time was there a threat to UK airspace.”
The UK’s RAF routinely deploys aircraft to monitor Russian aircraft identified near UK airspace.
In September this year, the UK reportedly deployed RAF Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Eurofighter Typhoon from RAF Lossiemouth airbase in Scotland to monitor two Russian Tu-160 long-range bomber aircraft that were nearing the country’s airspace.
In addition, the UK’s Typhoon jets deployed at a base in Romania were used to monitor a Russian military aircraft over the Black Sea in August.
UK Armed Forces Minister of State Mark Lancaster said that the RAF has deployed aircraft more than 80 times over the last decade to intercept Russian jets.
Eurofighter Typhoon is an advanced swing-role combat aircraft that is capable of performing both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions simultaneously.
