“We continued to escort the transport aircraft as it transited in a north direction, away from Estonian airspace”, a Typhoon pilot from the squadron involved was quoted as saying in the statement.
The ministry said this was a routine mission for Typhoon fighters from the Amari Air Base, meant to provide “reassurance that the UK is here to work in partnership with Estonia.”
On Sunday @RoyalAirForce Typhoon fighter jets operating from Ämari Air Base in Estonia launched to intercept a Russian IL-76 military transport aircraft that was flying close to Estonian airspace #WeAreNato https://t.co/5aeytFNmRC pic.twitter.com/1hFJM6DHR9
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) 30 июля 2019 г.
This was the 14th time that the Quick Reaction Alert squadron was called upon since the United Kingdom replaced Germany on the rotating air policing mission in the Baltics in May.
It was last scrambled to shadow Russian military planes in June.
NATO has deployed four multinational battlegroups to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of a military buildup in response to tensions with Russia that surfaced after a 2014 referendum in which Crimea's residents overwhelmingly voted to rejoin Russia.
