Two Russian bombers escorted by fighter jets have been identified over the Baltic Sea, the Swedish armed forces said. As part of the intervention, the Swedish Air Force picked up two Jas Gripen fighters. This was previously done by the Finns and the Dutch operating as part of the NATO Air Policing mission.
Armed forces Sweden reported on Tuesday that they had identified two Russian Tu-22 bombers (NATO code: Backfire) over the Baltic Sea, escorted by two Su-27 (Flanker) combat aircraft.
As part of the intervention, the Swedish Air Force picked up two Jas Gripen fighters. Photo documentation has been published on the website www.forsvarsmakten.se. “There was no violation of (Swedish) airspace,” said Swedish Air Force spokeswoman Therese Akerstedt.
Swedish Jas Gripen fightersX/Forsvarsmakten
Cooperation of NATO countries
As emphasized in the statement, before Russian planes entered international airspace east of Gotland, they were supervised by allies.
In the Gulf of Finland, the Russians were intercepted by Finnish F-18 (Hornet) aircraft and then tracked by a Dutch F-35 (Lightning II) fighter flying a NATO Air Policing mission.
The statement from the Swedish Air Force noted that cooperation NATO countries enabled fighters from different countries to take over the task smoothly.
Main photo source: X/Forsvarsmakten