German, Swedish fighter jets track Russian reconnaissance plane flying over Baltic Sea
Berlin (AP) – Air Force hunting planes of Germany and Sweden were scrambled on Sunday to intercept and follow a Russian surveillance plane that was unidentified on the Baltic Sea, military officials said.
Two Swedish Gripen planes and two German Euro-Priber-Priber planes deployed in international airspace to monitor and photograph the Russian recognition plane IL-20. He had stolen without providing a flight trajectory or radio contact which could report his presence, said Swedish and German Air Force officials.
Surveillance, which ended without incident, came while the member countries of NATO and the European Union were on increased alert for military activities and Russian recognition in and around their airspace.
On Friday, three Russian fighter planes entered Estonia airspace without authorization and stayed there for 12 minutes, said the Estonian foreign ministry. This has occurred a little more than a week after NATO planes have shot down Russian drones on Poland and increased fears that the war in Ukraine can manage.
“Today, (Swedish) Jas 39 Gripen and (German) Eurofighters were blurred on the Southern Baltic Sea, identifying and monitoring a Russian Recognition Airplane IL-20 in international airspace,” said the Swedish Air Force on its X account.
The German Luftwaffe said that its jets had initially followed the Russian plane before putting surveillance to the NATO Ally Sweden fighters, then returning to Rostock-Laage aerodrome in northern Germany.
