RAF Typhoon and Tu-142
NATO fighters have taken to the skies hundreds of times to intercept Russian warplanes this year. This was reported on the official website of the North Atlantic Alliance.
It is reported that in 2020, the air forces of the member countries of the alliance intercepted military aircraft more than 400 times approaching NATO air borders in Europe. At the same time, it is argued that in almost 90 percent of cases – that is, approximately 350 times – such flights were carried out to intercept Russian aircraft. This is more than in 2019.
NATO said that flights of Russian aircraft near the airspace of the alliance carry risks for civil flights. “Russian military aircraft often do not transmit transponder data indicating their position and altitude, do not submit a flight plan or do not communicate with air traffic controllers, which poses a potential threat to civilian airliners,” the statement said.
Earlier, the German general and chief of staff of the US Army in Europe, Jared Sembritzky, said that the massive modernization of Russian troops and the emergence of new types of weapons in Russia are the main threat to NATO. The German general noted that in response to the “Russian threat”, NATO has deployed battle groups in Poland and the three Baltic countries. In addition, according to him, Europe is preparing for a possible conflict with Russia and is regularly working on various scenarios for the development of events.
