- Typhoons took off from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, at 9.30am today
- Incident among stand-offs over North Sea between RAF and Russian Air Force
- RAF confirmed Quick Reaction Alert aircraft were scrambled this morning
Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian planes approaching UK airspace this morning.
The planes took off from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray on the coast of Scotland just before 9.30am today in Britain’s latest military stand-off with Moscow.
The incident joins a series of aerial stand-offs in recent months over the North Sea between the Royal Air Force and the Russian Air Force.
The RAF Typhoon planes (file picture) took off from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray this morning
The incident (pictured today in a graphic) joins a series of aerial stand-offs in recent months over the North Sea between the Royal Air Force and the Russian Air Force
An RAF spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth scrambled this morning.
‘This is a live operation and therefore we will not be providing any additional information until the mission is complete.’
RAF jets were also scrambled from Lossiemouth to intercept Russian bombers in September. The Russian pilots subsequently turned around.
A Voyager aircraft was also scrambled from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on that occasion to refuel the jetsas they guarded British airspace over the North Sea.
Other instances where RAF aircraft have been scrambled to meet Russian bombers in UK airspace include an incident in May when two Typhoons responded to a ‘quick alert’.
An Airbus Voyager KC3 tanker was also dispatched from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and was tracked heading north before going into a holding pattern off the Aberdeenshire coast.
Another incident took place in July when a Typhoon was launched from a base in Romania as a response to a nuclear bomber operating near NATO airspace over the Black Sea.
Operating from the Romanian Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta on the Black Sea coast, the RAF Typhoon responded to Russian Federation Air Force TU-22 Backfire strategic bombers heading south near NATO air space.
The Russian military jets were flying over the western Black Sea and were monitored by the Typhoon.
The Tupolevs – the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union – were tracked as they departed south but the jets did not come within visual range of each other.