Voyager tankers in secretive emergency Arctic refuelling

Voyager tankers have refuelled an inbound aircraft inside the Arctic Circle after it declared an emergency, the UK Defence Journal can report.

It is understood that the Ministry of Defence used satellites with infra-red sensors to track the aircraft, the heat from an animals red nose was clearly visible.

It has also been made clear in the last few moments the refuelling operation has now concluded and additional Typhoon aircraft have been scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth to begin escorting the cargo aircraft over every British city, town and village later tonight but it is understood that the aircraft has only been cleared to fly over the homes of good boys and girls.

It is expected that the now fully refuelled aircraft will enter UK airspace not a moment before midnight tonight.

In addition to fuel, the Voyager aircraft has also transferred over some biscuits and a large quantity of Brandy.

Voyager, the RAF designation for the Airbus A330 MRTT, made its first operational tanker flight in May 2013. The UK operates a total of 14 Voyager aircraft, 5 of which are leased for commercial purposes when not required.