Blackjacks intercepted off Stornoway and N Ireland

[campbeme]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/hig ... 585432.stm

Mark

[Firebird]

The headline makes it sound like they were training and happened to see them. I would like to think that Defence cuts haven't got that deep ... yet.

[kungfuman]

They must see some interesting aircraft up close in the QRA role from time to time.

[Firebird]

That is probably the most interesting that they have seen for some time.

[Rotten Ralph]

I agree with the safety aspect, as that area is the atlantic entry routes for inbound/outbound aircraft to/from the states (correct me if I an wrong). Also, it does not state the altitude of the intercept so they could have been higher than civil traffic?

[kungfuman]

Personally, I'm of the impression that these sorts of airspace violations are a very good opportunity to test RAF interception capabilities. No simulated exercise can ever be as conclusive as the real thing (although there is a whole industry for such exercises - so they're probably pretty good at simulation these days).

I think it's better we discover our weaknesses when the threat is minimal - that is to say Russia was not likely to be on the verge of an actual strike mission, as that is not reflective of the current international political climate (unless you're an exceptionally paranoid analyst). With any luck, it will convince the Russians of the integrity of our defence, although that could work the other way if we are ever caught napping.

[kungfuman]

I agree with the safety aspect, as that area is the atlantic entry routes for inbound/outbound aircraft to/from the states (correct me if I an wrong). Also, it does not state the altitude of the intercept so they could have been higher than civil traffic?

If the photo of the Blackjack and the Tornado provided in the article is anything to go by, they were at a very low altitude for some of the time, as you can see waves on the sea! Unless that's not the sea - it could be the top of a stratus cloud layer. It may not have presented a massive problem to civilian traffic because of the time of day (very early morning).

Apparently there have been at least 20 of these incidents since beginning of 2009 according to the article. I wonder what type is generally encountered? I remember reading that Russian Bears had been sniffing round our airspace not that long ago.

[Firebird]

In my day all we used to get were Bears, normally doing the Milk Run to Cuba.