Finnish, Swedish fighter jets intercept Russian aircraft over Baltic Sea

Finnish and Swedish fighter jets intercepted two Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, according to the NATO Joint Air Command, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

On July 15, NATO's Joint Air Operations Center in Judem, Germany, detected two Russian fighter jets over international waters in the Baltic Sea, heading from the Kaliningrad region towards mainland Russia. The aircraft were also tracked by Finnish and Swedish monitoring centers, prompting both countries to scramble their jets for interception. The Russian fighters lacked a flight plan, did not communicate with civilian air traffic controllers, and did not use transponder signals.

The interception was conducted in close coordination with NATO's Joint Air Operations Center, highlighting the high level of integration achieved by Finnish and Swedish forces through NATO's integrated air and missile defense systems and the Alliance's air control arrangements in the Baltic Sea.

In a related incident in April, German fighter jets intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane flying without a transponder over the Baltic Sea.

News.Az