UK fighter jets intercepted a Russian Bear-F after it repeatedly approached the UK carrier strike group in the Norwegian Sea on Thursday. The aircraft passed at low altitude and unnecessarily close to HMS Prince of Wales, with the Ministry of Defence saying it is believed to have dropped 10 sonobuoys into the water.
Two F-35 jets flew from HMS Prince of Wales to escort the Bear-F away from the Carrier Strike Group after British forces tried to contact the Russian plane on international frequencies and got no response. The group is deployed off Iceland under Nato command with 1,500 British personnel on board.
HMS Prince of Wales and Nato
The Carrier Strike Group includes HMS Prince of Wales, Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan, F-35 jets, Merlin helicopters, Wildcat helicopters and RFA Tidespring. It is the first time Nato has conducted air policing operations from a European aircraft carrier, which gives the encounter a wider weight than a single interception at sea.
Dan Jarvis visited British forces on board HMS Prince of Wales over the weekend 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 said, "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."
Ministry of Defence and Russian activity
The Ministry of Defence described Moscow's activity in the Norwegian Sea as "unsafe and unprofessional". The sonobuoys believed to have been dropped by the Bear-F float on the water and use sonar to detect submarines and other vessels, so the encounter sits inside a wider pattern of Russian activity that British officials are treating as multi-domain rather than isolated.
Sir Richard Knighton told the in June that Russia had been "probing, challenging, testing our defences" and "raising the stakes and risks crossing a line". Nato has warned that Russia could be ready to use military force by 2030, and the UK government published its long-delayed plan to invest in defence last week, including a £15bn increase in military spending set out by Sir Keir Starmer.
Defence spending after June
John Healey and Al Carns resigned from Sir Keir's government in June over a previous version of the plan, leaving the latest spending push to land against a sharper security backdrop. What the Bear-F was doing while it approached HMS Prince of Wales repeatedly was not explained, and the immediate response has been escort rather than escalation.
