RAF jets scrambled to meet 'unusual' level of Russian bombers that flew close to Britain

Two Eurofighter Typhoons were dispatched from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to meet a pair of Tupolev Tu-95 which are icons from the Cold War.

It happened as the strategic bombers flew south over the North Sea and they were later tracked by Portuguese F-16s in the Atlantic before they flew home.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “The RAF Typhoon pilots visually identified the Russian aircraft and escorted them through the UK flight information region.”

The planes are Russia’s equivalent to the B-52s used by the US Air Force.

The bombers were intercepted by RAF fighter jets [PA]

The RAF Typhoon pilots visually identified the Russian aircraft and escorted them through the UK flight information region

The Ministry of Defence

They were part of an eight plane formation made up of four Tupolev Tu-95 bombers and four refuelling tanker aircrafts.

They were spotted over the Norwegian sea in the early hours of yesterday where F-16s were scrambled from Norway and tracked the formation.

The eight plane group from Russia eventually broke up with six heading back home and two flying close to Britain where RAF Typhoons met them.

It was part of four groups of Kremlin aircrafts NATO had intercepted in around 24 hours since Tuesday.

In a statement the alliance said: “These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace.”

A spokesman stressed there had been no violation of NATO airspace as there was last week when a Russian spy plane briefly crossed Estonia’s border.

However, he added that such high numbers of dispatches by the Russian air force in one day were rare in recent years.

A Norwegian military spokesman added: “We see Russian aircraft near our airspace on a regular basis but what was unusual is that it was a large number of aircraft and pushed further south than we normally see.”

In a second incident on Wednesday two Russian bombers accompanied by a pair of fighter jets were being tracked by Turkish aircraft over the Black Sea.

While flights of seven Russian warplanes were monitored on Tuesday and Wednesday over the Baltic Sea.

On Tuesday, German and Danish planes were involved in tracking them as well as aircraft from non-NATO states Sweden and Finland.

NATO said it had conducted more than 100 such intercepts of Russian aircraft this year so far – about three times as many as in 2013.

This was prior to the confrontation with Moscow about clashes between Russian separatists and government forces in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has said he is committed to reinvigorating Russia’s armed forces which has been undermined by the country’s economic problems.

Credit to The express.co.uk