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A file photo of a German Eurofighter. Photo: DPA

German fighter jet intercepts Russians in Baltic airspace

Published: 3 Nov 09 08:47 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091103-22989.html

A German Luftwaffe fighter jet recently intercepted a Russian military aircraft threatening the airspace of NATO's Baltic members, the Rheinische Post daily reported on Tuesday.

The Bundeswehr confirmed to the paper that the incident, involving a German Eurofighter and a Russian radar plane along the Estonian-Russian border, occurred on September 15.

After the German jet challenged the radar plane, the Russians scrambled two fighters, which approached at supersonic speed. Finnish jets then escorted the Russians back to international airspace, averting a further escalation of the situation.

The Luftwaffe has protected the airspace of the Baltic nations Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia for the past two months as part of a rotating deployment by NATO members.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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Your comments about this article:

09:34 November 3, 2009 by Psypher
September 15th is "recent"??? The Russians were just poking NATO air defenses to see what would happen...
11:57 November 3, 2009 by Major Domo
Oh get serious, please! If the Russians really wanted to attack western Europe, all they have to do is wait for Old Man Winter to drop the temperature to record lows then turn off the gas supply. The war will be over in a matter of days.
12:16 November 3, 2009 by Psypher
Oh get serious, please! If the Russians really wanted to attack western Europe, all they have to do is wait for Old Man Winter to drop the tempera…
Very true....on the other-hand, the glowing embers of tactically nuked T-90 hulls should keep us all warm and comfy ;-)
14:24 November 3, 2009 by Celeon
Now thats really old news !

Ive read that on the Luftwaffe homepage weeks ago, including lots of photos.

As far as i know there were three such incidents in the last months. At least regarding russian planes. One military, two civilian airplanes.

The plane mentioned was A-50 Mainstay Awacs which got to close to Baltic airspace and the two fighter planes were Su-27 Suchoi "Flanker" fighters.

They were propably sent as "moral support" when the Eurofighter begun escorting and photographing the A-50.

But they accidently or willingly violated finnish airspace to reach the A-50 in time and where subsequently intercepted by the finnish airforce.
14:29 November 3, 2009 by OPB
I'm sure the Finns were most happy with this occurence.
21:39 November 3, 2009 by snorge
Worried about an escalation???? With what? Russians have nothing that works anymore!!!!!!
21:53 November 3, 2009 by Psypher
Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I think the offending Russian aircraft in question was in fact an AN-72 transport plane retrofitted with assorted radar tech...

They may not have A LOT that works (well), but flown by an experienced pilot (a commodity sorely lacked in the Luftwaffe, an Su-27 can put some serious hurt on pretty much anything short of a 5th gen aircraft...
21:28 November 4, 2009 by wxman
Ein prosit fur die Luftwaffe! Nie vergessen die Russisch.
05:00 November 5, 2009 by richard_vijay
The Germans should have sent a few more Typhoons when the sukhois appeared.The Russians are bullies and Germany should show them that they can't just poke thier greasy nosed whereever they want.
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