{"id":17025,"date":"2022-02-09T07:46:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T12:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=17025"},"modified":"2022-02-09T07:46:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T12:46:06","slug":"russian-incursions-into-uk-airspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/russian-incursions-into-uk-airspace\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Incursions into UK Airspace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia have sent four TU-95 \u201cBear\u201d bomber aircraft towards UK airspace two days in a row, resulting in \u201cQuick Reaction Alert\u201d missions by RAF Typhoon fighters to intercept and prevent any incursions.<\/p>\n

They were of course escorted away without further incident, but these are not a one-off occurrences. Aside from the obvious posturing, do these events pose any actual threat or hazard to civilian operations?<\/p>\n

What is a Quick Reaction Alert?<\/h4>\n

Countries sometimes like to send aircraft towards <\/i>airspace they should not head towards. They generally do so without contact with ATC, and without squawks. These aren’t “aggressive”<\/em> incursions but more tests of NATO response times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When \u201cunidentified\u201d aircraft are spotted, \u00a0the RAF scrambles fighters, usually from EGQS\/RAF Lossiemouth<\/strong> and often back up by a taker from Brize Norton to go tell \u2018em off and to \u201cpreserve the security of Alliance airspace\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

QRAs are not uncommon,\u00a0<\/strong>and with mounting tensions in eastern Europe the frequency of these seems to be increasing.<\/p>\n

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EGQS is the primary QRA base for the UK.<\/p><\/div>\n

Which areas of the UK are affected?<\/h4>\n

The Russian aircraft do not actually enter UK sovereign airspace<\/strong> – that\u2019s the bit above the country which extends 12nm<\/strong> out across their territorial waters. They do incur on airspace that falls under the \u2018UK area of interest\u2019 though – areas controlled by the UK ATC – particularly the EGGX\/Shanwick and EGPX\/Scottish FIRs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The airspace where these incursions take place are not generally utilised\u00a0much\u00a0by civilian traffic<\/strong>, but is of security and political interest because it is the airspace between countries such as Russia and the UK.<\/p>\n

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Airspace above the UK, Norway and linking Russia are “areas of interest”.<\/p><\/div>\n

When else has it happened?<\/h4>\n

At the same time as the first UK incursion in Feb 2022, Russian aircraft had also breached the airspace of Estonia<\/strong>, where a large number of British troops are currently based.<\/p>\n

A similar incursion took place last November when Russia sent two TU-160 bombers towards the UK. There have been several hundred such events<\/strong> into UK and Irish airspace over the decades where tensions with Russia have been heightened.<\/p>\n

In March 2021, NATO saw a peak of incursions<\/strong>, at one point aircraft scrambled 10 times in a 6 hour period across several regions including the UK, Norwegian coast and over the Black Sea.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The US Air Force suggested over 60 intercepts took place in 2020,<\/a> with many more monitored but not intercepted, around the Alaskan ADIZ region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Russian TU-95 “Bear” Bomber.<\/p><\/div>\n

A threat to safety, or just Putin on a show?<\/h4>\n

There appears to be no intent from the Russian side to do anything more than provoke a reaction, and to test the reaction from NATO defences.<\/p>\n

The threats and risks to civilian aircraft<\/strong> are therefore more along the following lines (with some mitigation strategies to help):<\/p>\n