RAF QRA aircraft scramble to intercept Russians 15 January 2018

[Airbubba]

Another day at the office for the QRA folks.

RAF fighter jets scrambled 'to intercept Russian planes heading for UK', Ministry of Defence confirms

Francesca Gillett
The Evening Standard

RAF fighter jets have taken off from Scotland to intercept Russian jets approaching UK airspace.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed to the Standard that Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth were scrambled on Monday morning.

The MoD added it is a “live operation” and will not comment further until the mission is complete.

Voyager refuelling aircraft from RAF Brize Norton [looks like ZZ334 with callsign MAD 715 is one - Airbubba] is also supporting the Typhoons.

A spokesman for the RAF said: “We can confirm that quick reaction alert 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."

The MoD said it could not confirm how many RAF aircraft had been sent because of operation security reasons.

RAF Lossiemouth in north east Scotland is primarily used as a base for Quick Reaction Alert, where pilots are on duty 24 hours a day and ready at a moment's notice.

The incident on Monday follows a string of stand-offs in recent months between the RAF and Russian Air Force.

In December, two Typhoon planes armed with missiles intercepted the Prime Minister's plane on its way home from Cyprus as part of a training exercise.

In September last year, two RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled to monitor a pair of Russian military planes flying towards UK airspace while in July two jets based in Romania were sent to Russian aircraft near NATO airspace in the Black Sea.

In January 2017 Typhoons also monitored a Russian aircraft carrier as it sailed through UK waters.

Typhoons are combat aircraft used in air policing and high-intensity conflict.

They are often scrambled to police and intercept unidentified foreign planes illegally entering British airspace.

RAF Lossiemouth in north east Scotland is primarily used as a base for Quick Reaction Alert, where pilots are on duty 24 hours a day and ready at a moment's notice.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/raf-fighter-jets-scrambled-to-intercept-russian-planes-heading-for-uk-ministry-of-defence-confirms-a3740051.html

[Blacksheep]

Back in the bad old Cold War days, when the Berlin Wall still stood and I and my colleagues slept in caravans parked a 20 yard sprint from three combat ready Vulcans, scrambling RAF fighters to intercept Russian aircraft was not a newsworthy item. The fact that it hits the news today is a welcome change.

[air pig]

If they got to Q10+ the press would have a meltdown screaming we're all doomed

[Airbubba]

Those tanker guys are still at it:

https://www.flightradar24.com/MAD715/102141bf

[Heathrow Harry]

It's all newsworthy when people are talking about cuts................

[Wyler]

British airspace...? British waters...?
Utter tripe.
Nothing to see here.

[MATELO]

British airspace...? British waters...?
Utter tripe.
Nothing to see here.

Yes there was. Expect photos shortly. :O

[glad rag]

British airspace...? British waters...?
Utter tripe.
Nothing to see here.

Indeed.

"And ladies and gents, if you look left now, you can see the grey funnel liner surging up the North Sea coast in intercept..."

:ok:

[Airbubba]

From the MoD:

News story

UK fighter jets intercept Russian bombers approaching UK airspace
RAF Typhoons have scrambled over the North Sea to intercept Russian Blackjack bombers

Published 15 January 2018

From: Ministry of Defence and The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP

One of the Russian Blackjack Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bombers, which were escorted out of the UK's area of interest.

Today (Mon 15 January), RAF Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon aircraft scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth to monitor two Russian planes approaching UK airspace. The Russian Blackjack Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bombers were not talking to air traffic control, making them a hazard to all other aviation.

The RAF worked closely with NATO partners to monitor the jets as they passed through a variety of international airspace, before they were intercepted by the RAF in the North Sea. Subsequently, our fighters escorted the Russian Blackjacks north, out of the UK’s area of interest. At no time did the Russian bombers enter UK sovereign airspace.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

The threats this country faces are intensifying and we will not hesitate in defending our skies from acts of aggression.

Our excellent RAF tracked the Russian aircraft every step of the way, and they continue to police UK and international airspace every hour of every day, to help keep the British people safe.

RAF QRA was launched today because the Russian Military aircraft were not talking to air traffic agencies.

The RAF routinely intercept, identify and escort Russian aircraft that transit international airspace within the UK’s area of interest and continue to be on call; 24/7, 365.

[c52]

An ignorant question: if a couple of fighters leave Lossie at no notice and fly out over the North Sea as fast as they need to to perform the interception, can a Voyager really get to them from Brize before they run low on fuel? What if the Tu160 is flying at Mach 2?

[Cazalet33]

can a Voyager really get to them from Brize before they run low on fuel? What if the Tu160 is flying at Mach 2?

On humanitarian grounds, the Voyager might have to offer fuel to the White Swan.

[ORAC]

Unless things have changed drastically over the years. In the 70/80s we did 300/400 hundred intercepts a year, and if the they wanted to test us they would launch a stream of 30-40 over many hours to both the North Sea, West Coast and GIUK gap and we would get up with up to Q20 launched from LU, CY and WT and multiple tankers landing, refuelling and launching to support from both LU and LM.

P+120: TU-160 crosses 15E heading SW, P-Time for UKADR just over 2 hours, QRA alerted in time to have prep and have dinner. Tanker ordered to RS60.

P+60: P-60 QRA launches to meet at edge of UKADR. Tanker ordered off.

P time: QRA intercepts at UKADR edge and escorts south. Tanker airborne.

P+40: Q2 launches to join tanker on intercept course to join intercept.

P+60: Q2 takes over shadow whilst Q1 tanks. Then each TU-160 gets an individual escort.

Meanwhile Danish/USAF/GAF etc QRA also join in and everyone takes lots of photos of each other and details of where to send them......

[c52]

Thanks. I'd missed the point that the Russians would be known about long before they became of interest, so the fighters would not actually launch with no notice.

[bakseetblatherer]

Local media in Ireland is reporting that a politician was angry the UK ‘had not informed Irish civil aviation authorities that they had unleashed their Typhoons’ into air space near Ireland.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/irish-politician-angry-raf-not-informed-ireland-typhoons-intercepted-russian-bombers-off-coast/

:p

[ORAC]

Local media in Ireland is reporting that a politician was angry the UK ‘had not informed Irish civil aviation authorities that they had unleashed their Typhoons’ into air space near Ireland. I can personally report one occasion when an F4 trailing a Bear west of Ireland heading south watched it on a perfect intercept course with a 747 under Shanwick control and backed off to watch - the tail of the Bear reportedly missing the 747 by about 50 feet.

I also had an occasion in the North Sea controlling the QRA behind a Bear on a collision course with a DC10 at the same height. I rang the LATCC controller and told him and advised him to get the DC10 to climb a 1000ft.

“Who’s controlling it!”, he demanded indignantly.

“Not sure”, replied I, “but you might try Moscow Military”.

He got the DC10 to climb 1000ft...

[Pure Pursuit]

RAF does its job.....

[Pontius Navigator]

ORAC, I remember one maxi effort when T* trooper from Cyprus had give away and was diverted to top up the Victors.

[Finningley Boy]

Here's a thought, if Mr Corbyn becomes the great Leader, given his resume, would he see the merits of continuing to have Fighters in sufficient numbers to intercept Russian aircraft? Or will he regard such a response as unnecessarily provocative?:confused:

FB:)

[Onceapilot]

ORAC, I remember one maxi effort when T* trooper from Cyprus had give away and was diverted to top up the Victors.

Pontious,
This might have been a TriStar trail back to UK from Cyprus? A typical Tristar trail from Cyprus would arrive back at Brize OH with about 20T instantaneous, although it could be upto about 40T in unusual circumstances. Whereas, although a Trooper might be a TriStar K/KC airframe, the Trooper would arrive at Brize with only about 8T div fuel available and, the crew would also be unlikely to all be tanker qualified. :rolleyes:

OAP

[NorthSouth]

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
The threats this country faces are intensifying

Quote ORAC:In the 70/80s we did 300/400 hundred intercepts a year

No of RAF QRA launches to intercept Russian aircraft:
2007 19
2008 11
2009 11
2010 7
2011 10
2012 9
2013 8
2014 8
2015 8
2016 5
Jan-Oct 2017: 3

[Pontius Navigator]

OAP, indeed

[Al-bert]

NS - you mean our Def Sec talks a load of bolleaux? Surely not! I used to believe this QRA intercepting bandits nonsense too, until I was at a planning meeting for the Leuchars Airshow in the F4 days and discovered that the QRA scramble and intercept was pre-planned, as they'd received the flight plan from our helpful friends in Moscow the previous week.

[ORAC]

Strangely enough, if they filed a flight plan we couldn’t intercept them. The first time it happened they filed a complaint and we had to apologise and stop. Normally a trick played by their MPA north of Saxa and Polestar. Filing a flight plan into the North Sea or across the Shanwick routes would have been more difficult.

[TEEEJ]

NS - you mean our Def Sec talks a load of bolleaux? Surely not! I used to believe this QRA intercepting bandits nonsense too, until I was at a planning meeting for the Leuchars Airshow in the F4 days and discovered that the QRA scramble and intercept was pre-planned, as they'd received the flight plan from our helpful friends in Moscow the previous week.

That wasn't always the case and it was exceptionally rare. The vast majority of those missions were unannounced by the Russians. After the break-up of the Soviet Union relations were good and on occasion a time window would be provided similar to the time windows provided for ballistic missile launches. A Russia liaison mission was established in NATO HQ in the mid 1990s and Russia had joined the NATO Partnership for Peace.

Relations were good until the Kosovo crisis in 1999 and the Russians went back to flying their strategic bombers without alerting NATO with a time window or flight plan.

[NorthSouth]

Strangely enough, if they filed a flight plan we couldn’t intercept them. The first time it happened they filed a complaint and we had to apologise and stop. Normally a trick played by their MPA north of Saxa and Polestar. Filing a flight plan into the North Sea or across the Shanwick routes would have been more difficult.So does this mean Rivet Joints file flight plans for their flights in the Baltic?

[A_Van]

Quoting from youtube below: ".... Another strategic bomber of the US Air Force B-52H, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, has been transferred to Britain. Now, five B-52Hs from the US Air Force 5th air bomber wing have been temporarily deployed at the Fairford airbase in England. On Friday, three B-52Hs made flights in the Baltic Sea region near Russia's borders as part of exercises with the Lithuanian Air Force".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9m0nm6PEnA

Today, two B-52 flew from Fairford in that direction again.

Taking this into account, flights of Russian planes over neutral waters in North Sea are much less provocative and escalative since they are routine for half a century. While US bombers in a Lithuanian range which is just about 25-30 miles from the Russian border is an obvious escalation of tension.

[roving]

Taking this into account, flights of Russian planes over neutral waters in North Sea are much less provocative and escalative since they are routine for half a century. While US bombers in a Lithuanian range which is just about 25-30 miles from the Russian border is an obvious escalation of tension.

The bit of Russia you refer to being a throwback to the USSR now known as Kaliningrad, a 223 square kilometre enclave on the Baltic coast encircled by EU countries, with a population of less than 450K -- the majority of whom probably do not even know where Russia is let alone visit it. Meanwhile Russia considers that its ownership of this enclave entitles it to conduct sea borne military exercises on its beaches, operate nuclear bombers and host the Russian Baltic Fleet.

[A_Van]

roving,

Your knowledge of geography is amazing (in a negative sense, sorry).

The Kaliningrad region (enclave) is about 15 thousand square km, and its population is about 1 mln.
A source of data in English, FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast

15K sq km is more than 10% of England or 3/4 of Wales, BTW.

And saying "the majority of whom probably do not even know where Russia is let alone visit it" is a mega-nonsense. Like saying that folks living in Isle of Wight do not know where England is :-)

[roving]

It was German (Prussian) since its creation in 1255 until the Russians marched in at the end of the second world war and encouraged the German speakers to emigrate.

It then became a large military base for the USSR navy and air force.

Strange that when the USSR disintegrated and iits neighbours, the Lithuanians and Poles, recovered their independence nearly three decades ago, Russia continued to control the destiny of this postage stamp sized enclave.

I guess it had nothing to do with its strategic location.

In 2013, Russia deployed short-range Iskander ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in the region, in what it said was a response to US plans to deploy a ballistic missile defence system in Europe.

Kaliningrad profile - Overview - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18284828)

[Heathrow Harry]

"And saying "the majority of whom probably do not even know where Russia is let alone visit it" is a mega-nonsense. Like saying that folks living in Isle of Wight do not know where England is :-)"

Van has clearly never been to the Isle of Wight.................. :E:E