Typhoon fighter aircraft scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth, with an RAF Voyager from Brize Norton, to monitor two Russian Blackjacks approaching UK airspace.
The RAF say in a news release that they worked closely with NATO partners to monitor the Russian aircraft as they passed through a variety of international airspace before they were intercepted over the North Sea.
“Our fighters escorted them from the UK’s area of interest and ensured that they did not enter UK sovereign airspace.”
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
“Our brave RAF pilots have shown again that we are ready to respond to any threat to the UK. Alongside our NATO allies, we must remain vigilant and aware of Russian military activity.”
The RAF routinely identify, intercept and escort Russian aircraft that transit international airspace within proximity to the UK’s area of interest and continue to be on call every day.
This is the second time this week RAF aircraft have taken to the air to investigate Russian activity, following a similar incident on Wednesday evening, but on that occasion an intercept by the Typhoons was not necessary say the RAF.
We Need to procure some bombers, and return the complement!
Chances are, the Russians would call ours “Fruit Salads”. !
OK, just to explain that last comment for those Younger Viewers, Fruit Salads and Blackjacks were sweets Widely sold during my Childhood. There was a time you could get 4 for a Penny.
Just thought I’d explain this to stop anyone getting offended and taking It the wrong way, ending up with Name Calling and other Child like Behaviour.
No offence Intended.
Ok, fair comment!
Answers In Order of Points raised.
Well ermmmm. YES.
Personally I didn’t like Either.
Bestest Sweets ever were those Peanut shaped things with real Peanuts inside.
Want a Fight then ?
Well Yes but They were like Toffee or the such coated on the Outside.
Yes They are Classed as Sweets.
Oh Good, i’m getting really comfy with all that.
Yup. Fine by me.
Maynards Winegums gets my vote. Although I am partial to fruit pastels. Pear Drops and Werthers are another contender. Toxic Waste are always fun for a laugh!
And yes I have heard of Blackjacks and fruit salads, they still exist I think!
And a new bomber should be called the Lancaster! end of story!
Hillarious
I got it
Bring back Toffos
A man’s gotta chew what a man’s gotta chew..
the u.s has two b1b lancers in a state of preservation at AMARG in tucson (google AMARG inventory)that where maybe the R.A.F should be doing their shopping
They are called sweet peanuts ? and you can still buy them today
Wtf! Jelly babies.
Actually, That’s a fair shout mate. i Love Jelly Babies Too. Love the Harder outer shell and the softer Inner !
What’s that you say ?
Vote’s are redundant now.
No point even asking for one anymore.
Last one we all had got totally Ignored years ago.
‘Happy Brexit Day” Everyone btw.
LOL i dream of the day the word will stop being used,i’m sick of it.
Haribo. Enough said.
Haribo Suck. !
I remember them and sports mixtures.
Loved blackjacks and salads but wine gums??? Wtf. fruit pastilles and chewitts all the way
Maoam Pinballs anyone? I could eat a whole bag of them if I didn’t value my teeth.
How do you Value them at ? I could do with some new teeth !!!!
Yes people have forgotten the light! Fruit Pastils are the way to enlightenment!
Just at a time when the UK Government is looking elsewhere amidst the Brexit chaos? We know Russia will always play these games. There must be some shivers in the MOD with recent goings-on in Westminster. There is every likelihood British politics is about to see significant changes, with the possibility of more political parties being formed, in the wake of the principle players failing so spectacularly? More political choice may be seen as a modern way forward, but important policymaking could be placed at high risk? Too many viewpoints could destabilize UK defence, and weaken our ability to defend… Read more »
ditto!
I trust the Blackjacks are being careful not to infringe on Shetland sovereign airspace.
I should remind intruders we have a wing of Typhoons on QRA at the Tingwall airbase. Or not. Well, there are 2 planes and they are twin engined, but it is possible they aren’t actually Typhoons. They are cleverly disguised as BN Islanders for security reasons.
shoot one down,watch, and step back while the world goes potty
Think the peanut things you talking about are called Sweet Peanuts. Can still get them.
Thanks for the Blackjack explanation Captain.
I had no idea what you were on about and don’t like any of that stuff!
As for the flying Blackjacks, all routine stuff for the RAF.
We do not need Bombers to “return the complement” as Merion suggests, NATO airborne and surface / subsurface ISTAR assets do that job.
You’re Entirely Welcome DM.
Happy “Brexit Day” too.
I’m annoyed I’m on nights shifts and did not take leave.
Big demos underway in London at the moment and feel I should have been there with them. 🙁
But we should have a large bomber capability Daniel, I agree not for tit-for-tat stuff, but as a genuine force for high level warfare. My concern with war against an opponent such as Russia is this: war kicks off and escalates quickly. Both sides begin to try to degrade each other’s capabilities quickly. Uk uses it’s small number of fighters carrying small numbers of storm shadow to take out air defences but are met by a hugely capable layered air defence network and hundreds of fighters. They suffer many losses and have only limited success. Astutes launch T LAM from… Read more »
T.S, now INF treaty is almost gone you will need to add new medium ranged ground based conventional cruise and ballistic missiles to your senario, with no need of expensive aircraft and submarines to carry them and building in mass making them much cheaper, it will change many things, both military and political
So Duncan Sandys was right then?
That name sounds familiar but I cannot remember why Paul
Ulya, he was a conservative politician and UK Minister pf Defence in the late 50s who proposed a radical shift away from manned aircraft to missile technology…farsighted or previous depending on your point of view I suppose 🙂
Thank you Paul. He might be right to a degree, aircraft, tanks, ships etc are all getting very expensive, and for many countries including Russian and the UK it just means we will have less, large numbers of cheap land based missiles will help compensate for that
The trend in the West looks like drone swarms: large numbers of small, intelligent, precise and hopefully cheap missiles. I hope their software is an improvement on the Boeing 737 Max 8 🙂
Considering the state of the Russian economy Ulya its not a good idea for putin to be in a arms race with the americans might end up like 1991 again.
Dave, the west has more people, money and military than Russia, we can never win an arms race against NATO, this is well understood, the defense budget does not need to increase to build land based cruise missiles as most missiles can be converted to land based launchers, it just means the Navy will get less big ships, cruiser and the dream of an aircraft carrier will be scraped
Morning T.S In your scenario then I would prefer better Air Defence not bombers. The scenario also assumes that those subs and bombers have not themselves been already negated, their missiles are accurate, our aircraft have not dispersed, and the RE of 12 Group are not on hand with repair equipment at key airfields. I do not think 2 Astutes would be defending our shores, but lurking in the Barents Sea destroying these subs along with US SSN. “Obviously in this scenario we wouldn’t be fighting alone, but my point stands that we have almost no defensive capability against a… Read more »
I’d actually say that we have a pretty decent defensive capability against the likes of Russia. It’s our offensive capability that we are lacking. War between us and Russia wouldn’t just break out at the drop of a hat without any notice. There would be escalating tensions that would allow at least some preparation time. During said time our Typhoon QRA would be increased from 4-8 planes to more like 20-30. We’d have the airframes to defend our airspace from Russian bombers or strike aircraft without too much difficulty. Next, the rest of our Typhoon fleet would be made ready.… Read more »
Hardly…..47!
I’m 13 and 3/4’s
Like a Mole….
Yup, But my Diary Is more like a Ships Log !!!!
Im younger than all of you then, some of you by a lot and I still have heard of blackjacks, maybe I just heard about them in folk tales though!
I’m 17 and I love blackjacks, maybe it depends what part of the country you are from? My favourite sweets are those milk bottle ones which I think have also been around for decades but I might be wrong.
So I wasn’t crazy, they still do exist! I thought so!
lets see more of our ‘incursions’ into russian airspace or waters
Merrymaids No1 sweet for me.
On the subject of Fruit Salads and especially Blackjacks. What ever happened to “Black Cat” Bubble gum??? Have’t seen that for 20+ years here in Canada.
Morning Cap’n! Do you remember Trebor Chews? We also used to buy threepenny worth of Orange and lemon slices before going of to ABC minors-“We’re all boys and girls together, we’re minors of the A-B-Ceeeee”. In my days in the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland we could also buy 4 N***** Balls for a Rhodesian penny!
Everyone a little off topic on this thread…
Morning geoff, A little off “Topic’ you say ? well yes Isn’t It always.
What has a Hazelnut in every Bite?
trebor were bought by cadbury a while ago.shame.i loved their mints, they were better than polos and one look at my teeth confirms it
YUP, Cadbury’s made a mint !!!!!!
So those were two Russian long-range bombers on a long-range training flight (Yawn). However, shock horror, they were “flying within proximity to the UK’s area of interest” and were “escorted from the UK’s area of interest”. What as strange choice of words. Do you mean, RAF jets went up, had a look, and watched as the Russian planes, who were international airspace, gradually got further and further away? New topic: The VTOL Harrier and the VTOL Lightening is a multi-decade, multi-billion swindle to transfer billions of pounds of tax payers money into the pockets of BAE shareholders (mostly non-British, by… Read more »
I think the chances of large scale industrial warfare breaking out are remote. I think the next kinetic event will happen around a point of crisis (or perhaps several) where limited fires will be exchanged before there is a rapid deescalation. Armed forces these days mirror those of the early modern era. Small due to expense of the technology involved and the cost of maintaining a trained personnel base to service and use them effectively. And so therefore risked only when absolutely necessary. Oddly that is why we should ensure that our formations and platforms are outfitted with as much… Read more »
That is why I think that the proposed Type 31 frigate should have some speciality in AAW capability. Taking on the role of maritime security in worldwide ops, with one to be based in Bahrain. The threat from the air will only increase.
halve foreign aid and pay our forces a lot more, it would reduce the ‘losses’ and promote recruitment prospects
Hillarious
I got it
Blackjacks and fruit salads, f×ck me sideways with a broom handle, talk about taking someone back…
sherbet bon bons!, aztec bars, and mars bars as big as a fist.
LOL. My Life here Is now Complete.!!!!!!!!
Thanks Chaps.
It’s been a tad Nasty here for a few Weeks. All back to Normal now.
Sweet revenge!
Ha. Yes, Exactly Frank62.
You are a Man after my own Heart !!!!
Let’s hope the Future of this Wonderfull Site remains free of Trolls and Open to Humour.
Bravo.
Hear Hear! Or as they say in parliament”eaaaaaaarrrrhrhrhrhe”
and pointless acronyms.
60 comments on an article about Blackjack Nuclear capable bombers near the UKADR….and most are about sweeties!
As King Théoden said…”How did it come to this…?”
Captain!! LOL
Morning DM, How did It come to this? you ask.
Hang on, I’ll Chew It Over !
This calls for a “celebration”.
king who ???????
Theoden Andy.
You obviously are have not read Tolkien.
What funny comments, but in reality there was no interception. The Tu-160s were guarded by the MiG-31 stratospheric interceptors and the British fighters were allowed only to photograph them from afar. Congratulations to all with the next “victory” of the British Air Force!
http://noticia-final.blogspot.com/2019/03/o-interceptado-pelos-britanicos-tu-160.html
LOL. MIG 31’s are “stratospheric” Interceptors?
Since when were Foxhounds over the North Sea when they are used to defend Russia as part of the modern day PVO? Not as long range bomber escorts?
excellent SHaDDUP! take your medications and go for a lie down ye olde muppet
Lol, I often wonder which Muppet i most resemble. !!!!
I visualise animal….on the drums!!
Oh, As long as you only “visualise” and not “Fantasise’ !!!!!
Actually, upon reflection DM, That’s not a bad Shout.
See….!
Now. Who would RGR be?
Me and You, Apparently !!!!!
LOL. Is our “cover” blown…
OT, like most of this thread, I read that 5131 BD Squadron is disbanding shortly.
Another “stealth cut” with little fanfare. The EOD work for the RAF will now be undertaken by the army.
If I Moderated this Site, I’d deffo be Banned !!!!!!!
I do wonder what the tactical plan is for these bombers. If the worst happens and they are needed, how do they plan to get through the significantly faster and agile fighter protection. A handful of sub launched cruise missiles would wipe out our undefended land based radars but that still leaves airborne and ship based radars. The only real hope is to saturate the defenders with offensive fighters with the bombers coming up from the rear but once they have air supremacy with the fighters they don’t really need these bombers. Maybe they intended to fly in low under… Read more »