Germany’s Air Force says three Russian aircraft were traveling in international airspace without transponder signals, “on reconnaissance flights.”
The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) reported on Wednesday (Apr. 26) that three military aircraft from Russia were intercepted in international airspace.
According to the German military, the Russian planes were flying over the Baltic Sea, located in northeastern Europe and whose waters are also bordered by Russia, and were traveling without transponder signals, which help identify them on air traffic control radar.
Germany and the UK then sent Eurofighter Typhoon fighter planes to identify them. The Luftwaffe reported that they were two Sukhoi Su-27 fighters and an Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft.
“Reconnaissance flights intercepted. German and British Eurofighters were alerted to identify three military aircraft. Russia’s two Su-27 flankers and one Il-20 have again flown without transponder signal in international airspace over the Baltic Sea,” the German force said on Twitter, where it also posted several images of the Russian aircraft in full flight.
Reconnaissance flights, to which the Luftwaffe refers, are reconnaissance air operations for military or strategic purposes, which can be aimed at, for example, obtaining images for intelligence purposes and observing enemy troop maneuvers.
NATO Monitoring
NATO member states take turns monitoring the airspace over the Baltics, since Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, members of the military alliance, have no fighters of their own.
In early April, after eight months, Germany handed over the leadership of the surveillance operation in the region to the UK, but will continue to participate in monitoring until the end of this month.
Security has increased even more over the countries bordering Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February last year. In recent months, Russian military jets have been repeatedly seen flying over the Baltic Sea.
ek/lf (DPA, AFP, Reuters)