On Sunday, RAF jets intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-142, that was flying near Scottish airspace. The aircraft was spotted over the seas north of Scotland and at

no point entered British sovereign airspace.

The Royal Air Force Lossiemouth-based Typhoon fighters and a Norwegian F-35A fighter aircraft were scrambled as part of NATO protocol to monitor the Russian aircraft that flew through the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.

While the RAF shadowing the Russian aircraft was a routine quick reaction alert that has taken place since the Cold War, one of the pilots said the Sunday scramble "demonstrated the close working relationships we have with our NATO colleagues." Photo by Defence Imagery, Wikimedia commons.