Typhoon jets have deployed to Romania to join the long-standing NATO Air Policing mission for the Black Sea region to deter Russian aggression.

The RAF say here that the 4 deploying Typhoon jets from 3 (Fighter) Squadron are normally based at RAF Coningsby, and will conduct the NATO Air Policing mission from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base on the Romanian Black Sea coast.

Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey said:

“The UK remains committed to NATO and European security in the face of Russian aggression and the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Operation Biloxi is a long-standing NATO mission and the Royal Air Force are playing a central role in security and deterrence in Europe.”

Air policing is a purely defensive operation and a permanent NATO mission that began in 1961 during the Cold War. NATO say that the mission ‘ensures the security and integrity of all NATO Alliance member’s airspaces’.

“Airspace is monitored by operations centres and where it is assessed that an interception is required, NATO aircraft can be scrambled as part of a Quick Reaction Alert. The UK supports Romania by augmenting its own capabilities.”

Air Vice-Marshal Phil Robinson, Officer Commanding 11 Group said:

“The arrival of our personnel and equipment in the region highlights the RAF’s continued commitment and contribution to the NATO Air Policing mission in Romania. During the deployment, we will be working alongside our Romanian and other NATO partners, enabling the delivery of the mission and protecting and reassuring our allies, whilst building confidence and maintaining deterrence.”

Operation Biloxi is the British name for the NATO Air Policing mission – it is the fourth time since 2017 that the RAF has conducted it. You can read more on this here.

Tom Dunlop
Tom Dunlop
Tom has spent the last 13 years working in the defence industry, specifically military and commercial shipbuilding. His work has taken him around Europe and the Far East, he is currently based in Scotland.

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93 COMMENTS

    • Oh Don’t forget the 30mm Arden cannon. But they would be best having a load of super tucanos from the yanks. A simple well armed fast manouverable low cost fighter that could be flown from austere airstrips.

        • If used correctly they would. Russia had a massive 150k strong army with so called advanced weapons non have been used correctly, upto 60% failure rate of standoff missles . You can’t expect zero losses but flying at tree top level using there mavericks to take out the AAA and Sam’s then use of Lazer guided bombs and cannons to take out artillery and infantry. I’m sure Ukraine pilots would jump in the canopies they would not say no to 50 of them. The Germans had a very affective AAA it didn’t stop our grandfather’s did it. Ukraine just needs the weapons to fight with not promises.

          • It’s a slow moving prop, evaluated to deal with insurgents who don’t fire back.

            On US sites such as the warzone there are people stating A-10s could blast those convoys. Actual A-10 pilots have said that is fantasy as well. it requires a closely integrated group of systems, ISTAR and supporting assets ( eg fighters) to even give an A10 chance of completing a Misson. An A-10 is built like a tank , a tucano isn’t.
            Ukraine has lost Su 25, Mig 29s and Su-27 against Russian Air defences that are supposedly ineffective.
            The switchblade systems the US will supply will be far more effective and are supposedly easy to train.
            You could not integrate western aircraft with western weapons without a long and complex training program for pilots , ground crew and weapon technicians. Even if they could operate it, they would need to spares, workshops and supply chain.

          • Hi David. Totally agree with you. I know nothing about wargaming, but i d know some things about light jet combat operations. The SAAF in the 70 and 80s used the single seat up-gunned Aermachi 326 (Impala mk 2) ,to good effect. About 5 were lost to manpads & light AAA .

            On external ops , The SAAF used uav’s to lure SAM into firing and then destroyed these with long rage artillery.

            The yanks lost a similar number of A10s plus AV8’s in gulf war one.( a dozen or so?)

            I imagine the first order of business is for stealth assets to suppress enemy air defences

          • First of all they have not got a massive 150k strong army Russia in Ukraine I would guess 5 k real troops at best . Thousands of conscripts and young kids thinking it’s a training exersice . The compete Russian armed forces won’t total 50k well trained personal .

    • Enemy plane. Here comes a hawk. Hit the afterburner. You have to able to catch a plane so have to be able to go faster than it. A subsonic hawk can’t do it. A turbo prop would be even worse. You would have to choose a point of intercept and hope the aircraft didn’t change course.

  3. Slightly off topic, but the BBC are reporting that the Russian’s have lost another General near the city of Kherson in Southern Ukrainian.

    The Russian’s have apparently lost 7 generals in Ukraine including two Combined Army commanders!

    The article I read (link below) also said that a Russian brigade commander, a colonel, had been deliberately run over and killed by his own troops because of the heavy losses suffered by the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade.

    This latter report should be sending shivers down the spine of Putin and this thugs given what happened in 1917…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60807538

    Cheers CR

      • This one might work. 😉
        2 Samuel. “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me.”
        My personal theory is that Putin has a guilt complex over his adultery. His divorce was finalised in 2014….were Crimea in 2014 and the deployment of Russian forces to Syria in 2015 a co-incidence or the striking out of a man angry trying to justify himself?

          • He is fighting his conscience which has convicted him. Aided and abetted by Kyrill he is using this Greater Russia piffle in to paint himself as the great saviour of orthodox Russia; sacrificing thousands of lives in the process. Kyrills priests and daughter Russian orthodox churches are deserting Kyrill. It’s the end game for the Moscow Patriarch and possibly Russian Orthodoxy. The visions of Fatima have run their course.

    • I wouldn’t trust anything the BBC would report. Move onto other sources. It was reported by Western media reporters,not confirmed by Ukraine or russia

    • Also the commander of the 13th (unlucky for some) Tank Regiment has reportedly shot himself and the Chief of Staff, General Shoigu, has had a heart attack.

      • Not superstitious myself but given the performance of Russian tanks recently I still really wouldn’t want to be in the ‘unlucky 13th’. Danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

        • Certainly was for the Colonel. Apparently the Regiment is being reequipped with tanks taken from storage most of which are lacking sights, engines, guns etc…

          • Parts looted and flogged on the black market apparently.
            Its suggested that the gucci encrypted radios were sold to mafia gangs, hence they are using mobile phones and cheap Chinese built commercial radios.
            That’s the problem of a mafia state. Nothing functions well and lackeys are too scared to tell anyone.

      • I wonder if indeed that is the case of a heart attack or if he has been removed never to be seen again either for incompetence or disagreement on policy?

        • Let’s just say there is a lot going on we don’t know about. Some of these Generals who are getting killed have obviously been told to take an objective or get shot I’d suggest. As for Shoigu, if I was in charge of this cluster I’d have a heart attack too.

          • Yes, think this showing by the Russian military has come as a bit of a shock to everyone. I hope the Ukrainians can give them a right kicking as they try to reorganise.

      • Sounding more like the Wehrmacht in the losing stages of WW2 more and more every day. Is Putin in the bunker yet?

    • It is really odd that they keep losing such high ranking officers. You would expect them to be based in relative safety, well behind the front line.

      Although not having encrypted Comms is pretty surprising, considering your mobile phone uses it and lack of it makes finding strategic targets much easier.

      • I heard on the Radio Yesterday that the Russians don’t have a well trained, core of non-commissioned officers who can take orders, motivate the troops and make things happen, as such senior officers need to be near the front line to keep the momentum going.

        I don’t know if this is true but it would explain why they’re getting picked off.

        • It’s hard to really get to the bottom of what is going on, so much disinformation/propaganda/guess work. Saying that time wise of this Vs invasion of Iraq (open sandy areas, difficult for surprise attacks etc) and Russia isn’t actually doing so badly, land taken wise. Losses clearly is a different story.

          Saying that if the info is half right, then Russia has lost a huge number of tanks/armoured vehicles (ok they had a lot to start with), it’s going to be interesting to see if they have much of a viable army left after this.

          Lost tanks can get rebuilt, but that isn’t a cheap exercise and corruption is going to make that hard work. The human loss will however take a long time to rebuild, especially if morale is as bad as reported. As such even if Russia does defeat Ukraine, they have already lost, as their miltiary influence would have been shattered

          • Land taken! Have they actually taken anything but the road they are on? With the actual number of troops they have it is impossible to control the ground ‘taken’

  4. Sigh. A whole 4 planes here, 4 aircraft there, 4 in the Falklands..some in maintenance.
    80..60…50 ? fighters left to carry out the air defence for the entire country?? A handful of dedicated strike/ground attack planes (f35)
    Yes we are not at war, but these numbers are just scary silly.
    AA

    • There are large numbers of fighters across Nato and very good ones. Even on our Northern Flank Norway has a good airforce and Russia would need to overfly ” Neutral” Sweden to attack Norway.
      It’s one area where Nato has a vast advantage. The Russians can’t gain air superiority in Ukraine. It wouldn’t do better against Nato Patriot and SAMPT batteries.

      • The Swedish Gripen ( particularly the new E model) is more than a match for anything the Russians have got.

        It’s small visual and head on radar signature, coupled with excellent avionic system and missiles would see a lot of Russian pilots hanging from parachutes in Swedish fir trees!

        • Indeed it is Monkey Spanker, with a very low operating costs too…

          The RAF could do a lot worse than having 3 squadrons of Gripen E’s to bulk up the numbers, in the same way as we used to have the Jaguars for the lower tempo operations.

          Possibly too much overlap with Thypoon I guess, but 60 E models would be a quick way off adding bulk and capable firepower to the RAF in this new Cold War we find ourselves in, great value for money all round.

          It would also help cement the relationship with Sweden as Tempest gathers pace.

          I wonder how fast they could be delivered?

          • If there was the money to buy 3 squadrons of Gripen plus spares, say 60 aircraft, why not just buy more F35 or Typhoon? You would be bringing a GE engine and servicing costs ( which we don’t use) , a completely new need for simulators, spares and training. For an aircraft that is less effective than T3 Typhoons and F35B
            If we had a spare £8b I could think of better things to spend it on than keeping the swedes sweet.

          • I agree David. For another 18 million usd a pop, I’d rather see the F35A model in service .

          • It’s not that clear cut though, it’s difficult to cut through all the information out there and get to the true costs.

            I would rather see an order of 60 additional Thypoon, in an upgraded format with Radar 2, higher all up weight etc, with all the tranche 2 and 3 brought up to the same standard.

            Let’s set that aside for the minute though….

            Gripen E offers an exceptionally capable package. It’s not only capable, but boasts excellent reliability and availability, plus operating costs lower than the Thypoon and an order of magnitude lower than F35.

            In many ways, it’s a 21st century Jaguar, but with genuine peer capability against any potential adversary it would likely face, air to air, ground and maritime strike.

            Would the much lower operating costs negate the additional costs of supporting a third fighter in service I wonder?

            I wonder if the possibility of fitting an EJ200 has ever been evaluated, a single uprated EJ230 with 23,000lb of thrust, would make the Gripen E a very capable beast indeed.

          • Hi John

            Out of interest, is the uprated EJ 230 in production and if so, can the Grippen E fuselage barrel accommodate the engine?

            If yes to the above, then I’m thinking you have an excellent idea!

          • Evening Klonkie, designed and ‘possibly’ bench tested in prototype form.

            There’s also the EJ260 with a power rating in excess of 26,000lb, I believe that would require more re-design work though.

            I wouldn’t see any particular issues re engine dimensions, though the intakes might require additional volume as it generates 2,000lb of additional thrust compared to the GE powerplant of the E model.

            Of course, the re-design and re-engineering required, would put the unit cost through the roof and invalidate our theoretical reason for purchasing Gripen in the first place!

            The reality is, the E model Gripen as it stands is a seriously capable multi roll fighter…

          • Even the C/D model was to be respected. During Exercise Falcon Strike in 2015, held at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base. The Thai Air Force used 4 JAS-39 Gripen C/D models for the exercise against Chinese PLAAF J11s (Su27 copies). During the BVR exercise the Gripens shot down 40 plus J11s with no loss. The entry on Wikipedia is incorrect.

            The Thai Gripen C/Ds could only carry the AMRAAM C7s as its BVR missile. The newer Gripen E/F can carry either AMRAAM Ds or Meteor. The newer Gripen is a lot bigger and has an additional weapons hardpoint under each main wing. It can also carry more fuel to increase its combat radius, which was an issue with the earlier versions.

            It has an excellent electronic countermeasures and defensive aids suite. That has got the better of most of the NATO air forces participating in exercises. The one thing that does let it down is the low power to weight ratio. Which does mean it gets out manoeuvred by aircraft such as Rafael, Typhoon and Su30/35 in within visual range combats. It can hold its own against F16s and F/A18s. To make up for its lower manoeuvring capability, the Swedes use the IRIS-T as its dogfighting missile.

          • There is a hell of a lot to like Davey, I would welcome a buy of E model Gripens as a ‘new Jaguar’ for the RAF.

        • We might find some answers on that in the coming weeks. From what I read Russia hasnt really committed it’s airforce to this war, either because of poor prep or they didn’t think it would be needed. Rumours are that they are moving forward a large number of planes. If true we will find out if they can gain air supremcy or not. If not then their airforce is as badly maintained as their land force and just a paper airforce.

      • There are large number of US fighters but a pathetic number of fighters accross Nato Europe. These are further reduced by poor reliability and a spares policy designed by accountants.

        • Pathetic number? The order book for F35 Is over 300 not including the UK and US.
          France maintains a larger tactical fleet than the UK. Lots of F16, F18 in Spanish hands, numbers of Grippen in some Eastern counties and Poland for just one example will have a hefty force of later block F16s .
          We arent seeing those numbers of 5th gens from Russia, and Russia has to deploy a large chunk in the east.

    • While I do agree with you regarding aircraft numbers and they do need an increase along with other defence items, from what we’ve seen so far from the Russian Air force regarding tactics and flying skills, those 50/60/70 aircraft would shred the Russians in a few days. But, yeah your point regarding numbers is correct.

    • Still more than enough to deal with Russian rubbish . And we have more than the numbers you claim . Over 100 typhoon and the f35 all top notch fighters with full logics air and ground integrated

      • Absolutely not disagreeing with any of the comments, and I don’t disagree with the numbers, but what I am saying is we have penny packets here and there, and what with servicing etc, that 120 Typhoon figure does not reflect what is currently available for air defence, let alone the strike role.
        I don’t know, but perhaps in a war scenario both carriers would set sail so as to not be sitting targets and would need aircraft on them, again reducing numbers of “raf” F35s for strike.
        I would really like to see would be a string of three T45 off Scotland providing air defence, in the event, and this would go a long way to make up for low Typhoon numbers.
        AA

        • 120 plus the f35 more than enough for Russia Chinese planes are not up to much in reality it’s all about integration and quality not a few more in numbers.a

    • David all your points are well made. Theres is another important component to the equation. It’s all good and well for Russia to have large numbers of combat jets listed in Jane’s annual Air Force review. Quite another to maintain them and have any large numbers operationally fit for purpose.

      I’d wager the Russian airforce is unable to maintain any surge capability beyond a few days at best.

      The other unknown element is the advantage modern stealth tech brings to the battle, particularly at scale. If I were a Russian Air Force General, I’d be a worried man.

  5. Are these the 4 photons that were deployed to Akrotiri of in addition of? The Hawk T1As were just that during the cold War. Shoot and scoot.

  6. “British jets join effort to secure Romanian skies”
    They have been flying over Romania for weeks now deploying from RAF Akrotiri with Voyager support..

  7. Again, with limited assets we can stretch to more commitments and taskings! With the RAF and Navy it’s about good forward planning, great people and good kit! With the Army it’s just about great people pulling it out of the bag despite the opposite…..well done all round!

    • I have to say the RAF is very impressive for what they have, as there are only 9 voyagers available and with some in stores they still manage to keep at least 2 in very high readiness (one in Akrotiri and one for QRA in UK), similarly for these typhoon deployments; a squadron in Akrotiri, a flight in the Falkland’s and a flight in Romania as well as a flight of F35Bs in I believe Poland, all while maintaining a very valuable QRA effort.

      • Because Voyager has very high availability rates. This is why we can achieve more with fewer aircraft compared to older types. VC10 and Tristar struggled to achieve 60% availability. Voyager is 95%+

        • The joys a of basing planes on debugged commercial airframes where time on the ground/workshop is ££££ down the drain.

          So competition drives high availability rate?

          • It would seem so. Same reason we have an MPA capability based on a modern airliner and not a 1950s Nimrod design.

      • Whilst I agree with all your points, there are some real RAF capability ( capacity) gaps. I can tell you without any doubt that 3 E7 AWACs are inadequate.

        I can’t say what the optimal number should look like, but I can say 3 are unable to maintain a sustained operational tempo if the proverbial hits the fan.

        • It’s always a balance. The capability, professionalism and logistic tail of the RAF should never hide the fact that it is too small. And balancing that critics of its size ( and the army and RN ) should always bear in mind size isnt everything.
          As the Russians are proving.

          • It’s not that the RAF is too small, llarge numbers of Typhoons are in bits waiting for spare parts (mostly from Germany) and the guy in charge of availability has been suspended from duty following an unpleasant incident in his back garden last month

            Wallace really needs to get a grip on the fighter availability issue

          • Rubbish they are NOT waiting for spare parts and large numbers are NOT out of action .We do service our planes unlike some .

          • So, let us say 100 available?

            In other words, the MOD has recently responded to an FOI request confirming that of the 156 Typhoons currently in service, at least 55 of them are in what is known as the ‘sustainment fleet’ and not available for immediate duty.

            This has been the cause of angry articles in the papers, suggesting that the RAF has apparently ‘failed’.

            https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com/2019/01/having-trouble-keeping-it-up-raf-and.html

            TYTAN (TYPHOON TOTAL AVAILABILITY ENTERPRISE)In the two years since its launch TyTAN (Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise) has proved a real success.

            The availability contract between the MOD, RAF and UK Industry is on track to meet its targets of driving down the cost of support so that the UK can invest in future capability elements. But it’s more than an efficiency drive — it’s transformed cultures too.

            https://www.eurofighter.com/multimedia/details/tytan-typhoon-total-availability-enterprise-2024

          • Hi Nigel. See my post last month on Typhoon availability using OSINT.

            It seems that on any one day of the 100 only 60-65 Typhoons would be immediately available

          • Mate thats a good number as the sustainment fleet are used to spread the hours, and the “on line” aircraft at Sqn level also do need to go through the various levels of servicing. Im sure an RAF contributor can verify this better but 60-65 is a good number. Be aware im sure that if they are needed, some peacetime servicing and inspections can be negated to increase this number by another 10-15 possibly. We are at peace (just about) and peacetime levels of safety are essential. Cheers.

          • There will always be at least 25 to 33% of the Typhoon fleet unavailable. As these aircraft will be going through their continuous maintenance cycle. The maintenance will be anything form superficial to deep level strip downs. Some aircraft can be brought back in to service within a day, others will take weeks to get back in service.

          • Spot on Daniele, when considering military matters in theater, professional experience, training and well equipped will overcome. History has demonstrated this over the centuries of many military campaigns. As you say size isn’t everything. It does not always overcome and dominate the small.
            Cheers
            George

          • very true DM. More important to have breadth in capability , which in my opinion the RAF is world class at. I am uneasy about the 3 E7s though, even one more would significantly improve capability. But as you state- balance is key.

    • May be so that the other 4 can rotate in a month’s time, this isn’t going to be over in a few weeks/months and a sustainable presence has been planned for.
      We have basically gone back to march 6th 1945.
      “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent,”
      Ok the boundaries have moved east a little and Kyiv is the new Berlin.

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