RAF jets scrambled to intercept Russian bombers
Thursday, 6 September 2007
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RAF Tornados have intercepted eight Russian bombers as they approached UK airspace.
The Bear Tupolev-95 planes were detected by Nato early this morning.
British fighters were scrambled from RAF Leeming in Yorkshire and the nuclear-capable TU-95 Bear planes diverted without incident.
The Russian bombers are flying back to their base in northern Russia with Nato tracking their progress.
It follows a similar incident in August when two Russian Bear-H aircraft appeared on British horizons. At the time two Eurofighter Typhoons, based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, were scrambled to identify and shadow the unannounced arrivals, which turned back before reaching UK airspace.
Earlier this month President Vladimir Putin flexed Russia's military muscles once again when his government said that 12 strategic bombers would practise firing cruise missiles during a show-of-strength exercise over the Arctic.
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