German, Swedish fighter jets track Russian reconnaissance plane flying over Baltic Sea
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/09/2025 (186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BERLIN (AP) — Air force fighter jets from Germany and Sweden were scrambled Sunday to intercept and track a Russian surveillance plane that was flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, military officials said.
Two Swedish Gripen jets and two German Eurofighter jets deployed in international airspace to monitor and photograph the Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft. It had been flying without providing a flight path or radio contact that could signal its presence, Swedish and German air force officials said.
The monitoring, which ended without incident, came as NATO and European Union member countries have been on heightened alert for Russian military and reconnaissance activities in and around their airspace.
On Friday, three Russian fighter aircraft entered Estonia’s airspace without permission and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said. That happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over.
“Today, (Swedish) JAS 39 Gripens and (German) Eurofighters were scrambled over the South Baltic Sea, identifying and monitoring a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace,” the Swedish air force said on its X account.
The German Luftwaffe said its jets had initially followed the Russian plane before handing off monitoring to the fighters from NATO ally Sweden, and then returning to Rostock-Laage airfield in northern Germany.