Russian surveillance planes tracked over Baltic Sea, army officers say – Nationwide

Air drive fighter jets from Germany and Sweden had been scrambled Sunday to intercept and monitor a Russian surveillance aircraft that was flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, army officers stated.

Two Swedish Gripen jets and two German Eurofighter jets deployed in worldwide airspace to observe and {photograph} the Russian IL-20 reconnaissance plane. It had been flying with out offering a flight path or radio contact that might sign its presence, Swedish and German air drive officers stated.

The monitoring, which ended with out incident, got here as NATO and European Union member nations have been on heightened alert for Russian army and reconnaissance actions in and round their airspace.

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‘Harmful provocation’: Russian jets violate Estonia’s airspace in third NATO incursion in days

On Friday, three Russian fighter plane entered Estonia’s airspace with out permission and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Estonian Overseas Ministry stated. That occurred simply over every week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and heightened fears that the struggle in Ukraine may spill over.

“Immediately, (Swedish) JAS 39 Gripens and (German) Eurofighters had been scrambled over the South Baltic Sea, figuring out and monitoring a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance plane in worldwide airspace,” the Swedish air drive stated on its X account.

The German Luftwaffe stated its jets had initially adopted the Russian aircraft earlier than handing off monitoring to the fighters from NATO ally Sweden, after which returning to Rostock-Laage airfield in northern Germany.