RAF jets have been scrambled in response to “unidentified aircraft” approaching the UK.
Typhoon fighters from RAF Lossiemouth, in Moray, Scotland, and a Voyager tanker from RAF Brize Norton have been launched in a ‘Quick Reaction Alert’ mission.
UK Defence Journal editor George Allison said on Twitter that the Voyager tanker is transmitting a transponder code indicating it is “conducting a NATO air policing mission”.
This he adds is a mission “which aims to preserve the security of Alliance airspace”.
An image on flightradar24.com shows the Voyager circling north of Scotland.
A spokesperson for the RAF said: “Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighters from RAF Lossiemouth, supported by a Voyager Tanker from RAF Brize Norton, have been launched against unidentified aircraft approaching the UK area of interest.
“We will not be offering any additional detail on this ongoing operation until complete.”
The RAF routinely intercepts aircraft approaching what it describes as the “UK area of interest.”
An RAF spokesman declined to provide further detail on the operation until it is over.
In November 2021, jets were launched in response to Russian TU-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.
Officials said at the time the fighters escorted the Russian aircraft out of the “area of interest”, and that the bombers did not enter UK airspace.
On Monday, the French military said that it had monitored two Russian ships, the Soobrazitelniy and the Stoykiy, and later handed over the responsibility to HMS Argyle, a Type 23 frigate, and the US Navy’s USS Roosevelt.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence described the tasking as a “normal response”.
Tass, Russia’s state news agency, reported on January 24 that the two Russian vessels had left Kaliningrad to conduct “combat exercises”.
The scrambling of the RAF jets today comes amid heightened tensions with Russia who currently have more than 100,000 troops at the border with Ukraine.
Boris Johnson has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the country will be hit with sanctions the “moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory”.
During a diplomatic mission to Kiev on Tuesday, the prime minister warned of a “clear and present danger” presented by the massing of Russian troops on its border with Ukraine, which he described as possibly the greatest act of hostility “towards the Ukraine in our lifetimes”.
Mr Johnson and Mr Putin are due to have a phone conversation later this afternoon that was previously planned for Monday, but was delayed as the prime minister responded to the partygate scandal.
Additional reporting by PA
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