On the 29th of January 2022, a Russian Su-27 jet violated Estonian (and therefore NATO) airspace.

The Russian Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia.

“The Russian Air Force Su-27 jet violated the airspace of Estonia on Saturday. The incident occurred near the Vaindloo Island. The jet remained in Estonian airspace for less than a minute. It was flying with the transponder in the off mode and remained out of contact with Estonian air traffic control at the time of violating the Estonian state border,” a statement from Estonia read.

According to the statement, the Russian envoy was summoned to the Estonian Foreign Ministry and was handed a note regarding the incident.

“Estonia considers it a very unfortunate and serious incident, given that such violations have happened repeatedly,” the statement also said.

British troops are based in Estonia

Operation Cabrit is the name of the UK operational deployment to Estonia where British troops are leading a multinational NATO battlegroup as part of the ‘enhanced Forward Presence’ or ‘eFP’.

A British Challenger 2 tank in Estonia

According to the British Army:

“British Armed Forces have a leading role in NATO’s eFP in the Baltic States, in order to enhance Euro-Atlantic security, reassure our Allies and deter our adversaries. The eFP in the Baltic States is a deployment of robust, multinational, combat-ready forces to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, on a persistent, rotational basis.”

About 900 British personnel rotate on a continuous basis alongside Danish, French, and host nation Estonian forces.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

53 COMMENTS

  2. This sounds like a more dangerous incursion than what is being reported from the Straits of Taiwan. The press get their knickers in a twist whenever Chinese aircraft fly into the Taiwan Air identification zone, without acknowledging the fact that that zone extends over the Chinese mainland.

    • Yes but remember the Taiwan Air identification zone was set up after the end of the Chinese civil war to ensure that no aircraft would be based at airbases on the mainland immediately opposite Taiwan and covered the then range of combat aircraft. It was essentially created as a DMZ to keep the PLA away from Taiwan.

    • I know we also get close to the Russian border, but does the RAF ever get close enough to violate their border?

      I know they share a border, so it must be easy to make a mistake and accidently go into Estonian airspace, but it does seem like a silly time to be going into NATO airspace, given everything else going on.

          • Maybe not. Not fully.
            I think both aerial and submarine surveillance activity reduced on both sides for some time.
            What has never really ended is the great game behind the scenes – SIS, CIA on one side vs SVR.

          • I became mildly tepid before undergoing another cold spell…
            The Mildly Tepid War just doesn’t have the same ring to it!

          • “Mildly tepid”, this has made me giggle like silly little girl everytime I think of it. Thank you Gunbuster

          • Very true, a mate of a mate did his full 21 years in the Navy on T22’s and T23’s mainly.

            I spoke to him a while back and we exchanged our different experiences with the Russians

            During the ‘Mildly Tepid War’ ( love that) they got to visit a Russian Warship.

            He said though the crew were very friendly, it was absolutely chaotic on board, very little in the way of firefighting equipment or battle damage containment and control (modifications leaving cabling cut through bulkheads etc), the thing he found the biggest eye opener was only a handful of the crew were trained to actually use the firefighting kit.

            In his opinion, their ships were absolute death traps, designed purely to engage in death or victory battles…

    • We don’t like it, but NATO has operated many overflights of the old Soviet Union & China throughout the cold war & probably more since. So we should monitor it & temper our outrage.

  4. Is this the AIZ or actual Estonian airspace?

    “Estonian state border” sounds ominous.

    Perhaps the Ambassador needs to explain when the elite Russian Air force pilots are

    1 – Competent and deliberately violating a national border.
    or
    2 – So gormlessly useless that they do not even know where the national border is in reality.

    😎

  5. No surprises there then, expect to see more of the same.

    Putin behaves like a child, it’s time he learnt how to act like a responsible adult given his position.

    • Good point, perhaps slightly wrong footed by the picture of work shy protester, waving a bottle of Alcohol free wine😆

  6. The west as a whole need to be hamming Russia through all diplomatic and political routes when they do thinks like this, bring it up at the UN make a right old song and dance every time it happens.

    You can imaging the fuss and use Russia would get out of an event if a NATO jet did the same.

    Name and shame every event to the max. Most of the general public don’t read marginal defence blogs ( sorry UKDJ, your great but you don’t have the circulation of mainstream media). I’m sure if our government (though our national broadcaster) ensured the British public new how many time Russia aircraft made dangerous ( without transponders or pre planned) into U.K. airspace they would be a bit more up for supporting increased defence spending.

    If you were of a suspicious nature you could think that there is a bit of what they don’t know won’t hurt them and they may start asking questions if they knew how threatening Russia is and how stretched our military are ( I will take my tin hat off now).

  8. Turkey demonstrated how to deal with bullies. Next time send the pilot back in a bag along with what used to be part of the Russian Air force.

    • And give Putin all the ammunition he needs about supposed NATO aggression?

      Bad idea for me. It plays right into his hands.

      Now this is not a direct flight to Tallin, goading us to shoot, then action would have to be taken. It’s a 1 minute incursion. It changes nothing and should be treated with the same contempt as those Spanish infringing Gibs waters making a point and in the process achieving absolutely nothing, as Gib remains a UK territory same as Estonia remains Estonian.

      It intimidates no one and achieves nothing for Russia.

      • I’m of the feeling that taking the gentle approach plays into his hands, he is a classic bully type who thrives on others weaknesses and will only continue to get bolder in his behaviour the longer it goes without someone standing up to him.

  10. We should take a more gung-ho approach to this sort of thing and try out one of the new air-to-air missiles on their SU-27’s. Think of the marketing – “combat proven” etc etc

  12. SU-27 or 35 with latest western electronics and gadgets would be a special site. It’s a great display bird and has a special mean look about it.
    One of the operators like India could shed some light on the good bad points compared to rafale or other western types

    • Although the Su35 is a great aircraft, it’s at a serious disadvantage to a Thypoon.

      First off Thypoon had a very small frontal radar cross section, further reduced by the radar dish ‘rested’ at at an angle when not in use.

      The Su35 on the other hand will look like an office block coming over the horizon, with its considerable radar return, based on poor shielding of Engines and other structural features, plus it’s very large size…

      It will simply be detected and ‘seen’ by the far superior western ESM and sensor suite long before the Su35 knows someone else is there…

      It all adds up to Meteor closing in on you and very little chance of you avoiding it in the few seconds you have left to live…

      First look, first kill….

    • The Indian Air Force has exercised it’s Sukhoi’s against RAF Typhoons but there were suggestions that it’s Radar Capabilities were not exploited to the full.

      • I believe that you are referring to the two-week training exercise called Indradhanush 2015. During a number of air engagement scenarios the India Air Force claimed a number of “victories”. However, these were all “Within Visual Range” combat, firing simulated missiles to a range of two miles. The Sukhoi have thrust vectoring so it is expected to be a highly maneuverable airfcraft.

        However, the results were different in Beyond Visual Range scenarios. Here, the simulated Typhoon AMRAAM missiles were much more successful.

        • Yes the Typhoon’s ASRAAM would also outrange the SU35 short range missiles by a large margin.

          plus Typhoon has good missile warning and DASS…

  13. If the Syrians took the same line as the Estonians or the Turks over illegal air incursions it would be very interesting?

    • I think it’s a combination of not a great deal left of Syria’s once capable Air defence network and not wanting it’s remaining assets malleted into the ground David.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here