UK air force scrambles jets against ''unidentified aircraft''

Britain's Royal Air Force said Wednesday that it scrambled fighter jets in response to "unidentified aircraft" approaching the U.K. The Typhoon jets took off from British air force bases in Lossiemouth, northeast Scotland, and they were joined by a Voyager air-to-air refueling tanker launched from Oxfordshire, England.

Authorities did not provide further details on the operation.

The force routinely intercepts and monitors approaching aircraft. It has said that Russian military aircraft entering the U.K.'s policed zone of international airspace can pose a hazard to other air users because they often do not talk to air traffic control.


In November 2021, jets were launched in response to Russian strategic bombers. Officials said at the time the fighters escorted the Russian aircraft out of the "area of interest" and that the bombers did not enter U.K. airspace.