An incident occurred over the Baltic Sea on Monday. According to Russia, a German military aircraft approached Russian airspace, after which a fighter jet took off to “escort” a German Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
Known as the “flying eye of the Navy”, the Bundeswehr machine turned before reaching Russian airspace. After that, the Russian Su-27 fighter jet returned to its base airport, it said.
The aircraft is used by the Bundeswehr for reconnaissance, maritime surveillance and submarine hunting. Eight pieces belong to Naval Aviation Squadron 3 “Graf Zeppelin”. The P-3C Orion is the largest fighter aircraft in the Bundeswehr. The maritime patrol aircraft has a radar, a laser range finder and an infrared video camera combination on board.
The Navy confirms the ‘Routine Flight’ incident
“A violation of the Russian state border was prevented,” the Russian ministry said. A spokesman for the German Navy has now confirmed the incident. It was a routine reconnaissance flight in international airspace off the coast of Kaliningrad.
In the Russian enclave on the southern edge of the Baltics is a militarily well-developed outpost of Moscow. According to unconfirmed reports, Iskander medium-range missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers are also stored there. The Russian Baltic Sea Fleet is also stationed there.
Tensions in the Baltic Sea
Such interceptions are not uncommon. However, tensions in the airspace over the Baltic Sea between NATO forces and Russia have escalated since Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine began in February last year.
In May last year, for example, a Russian reconnaissance aircraft approaching over the Baltic Sea warned the German air force. As a result, two Eurofighters sounded the alarm to divert the Russian plane away from Germany into the international flight space.
Source: Krone
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