UK MOD Russian plane interception came after a Russian Bear-F approached HMS Prince of Wales in the Norwegian Sea on Thursday. Two F-35 jets flew from HMS Prince of Wales and escorted the aircraft away after British forces on the Carrier Strike Group tried to contact it on international frequencies.
The Ministry of Defence said the Russian aircraft is believed to have dropped 10 sonobuoys and described Moscow's activity as "unsafe and unprofessional." Those devices float on the water and use sonar to detect submarines and other vessels, which makes the approach more than a passing visual contact.
Carrier Strike Group off Iceland
The Carrier Strike Group is deployed off Iceland under Nato command and has 1,500 British personnel on board. It includes HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Duncan, F-35 jets, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, and RFA Tidespring, and the intercept showed the air wing was active from the carrier itself rather than waiting for land-based support.
That matters because the deployment is the first time Nato has conducted air policing operations from a European aircraft carrier. In practice, the response was immediate: the carrier's own jets moved to shadow and escort the Russian aircraft, then handed it off after the contact was pushed away from the group.
Dan Jarvis on HMS Prince of Wales
Over the weekend, Dan Jarvis visited British forces on board HMS Prince of Wales and said: "We live in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain time, and it's deployments like this, supported by allies and partners including Iceland, that improve our deterrence and defence as part of Nato." He also told Channel 4 News: "We should be clear-eyed about the fact that the threat from Russia exists in every domain, under the water, on the water, on the land, in the sky, in space and in cyberspace as well."
Sir Richard Knighton had already warned in June that Russia was "probing, challenging, testing our defences" and was "raising the stakes and risks crossing a line." Last week, the government published the UK's long-delayed plan to invest in defence, and Sir Keir Starmer set out a £15bn increase in military spending.
Nato has warned that Russia could be ready to use military force by 2030. The open question now is why the Russian Bear-F closed on the carrier strike group at low altitude and whether the 10 sonobuoys were actually recovered from the water.
