Two Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft belonging to the British Royal Air Force (RAF) intercepted on Tuesday a Russian SU-24 Fencer fighter flying in the international airspace over the Black Sea. The Russian aircraft was heading towards Romanian territorial airspace.

In a press release, the British RAF said: "Operating out of the Romanian Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta on the Black Sea coast, RAF Typhoons on the NATO Enhanced Air Policing mission scrambled on August 17 as the Russian aircraft was detected entering the Bucharest Flight Information Region and heading towards Romanian territorial airspace. As with many Russian Military sorties the aircraft had not filed a Flight plan and was not speaking with Romanian Air Traffic Control so making it a flight safety hazard to all air users."

One of the RAF Typhoon Pilots was quoted saying: "When the unidentified, though suspected Russian aircraft entered the Romanian Flight Information Region, we were scrambled to carry out a visual identification. We were airborne within minutes and heading towards the track; it wasn't long before we intercepted the aircraft and identified it as a Russian SU-24 Fencer. It had flown no closer than 20 miles from the Romanian coast before we intercepted it. We shadowed it until it left the Flight Information Region heading North East. We then resumed our combat air patrol mission and returned to base."

According to a statement from the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the British aircraft intercepted the SU-24 Fencer around 10:50 AM. Once the Russian fighter left, the two RAF Typhoons continued their air patrol mission until 11:30 AM local time and returned to the base airfield.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Raf.mod.uk)