Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, international travel has been somewhat limited but that doesn't mean that the skies over Europe have been clear of aircraft. According to the Russian Aerospace Force deputy commander-in-chief, some 1,300 foreign air reconnaissance aircraft were reported to have operated near Russia's borders this year, Tass reported.

"Air defense alert forces detected and tracked over 1.5 million airliners, including about 3,600 foreign combat planes and over 1,300 spy aircraft," Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Andrei Yudin said in an interview with the Defense Ministry's Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Friday.

Russian fighter aircraft from its air defense quick reaction alert forces have scrambled more than 170 times to intercept foreign planes near the borders, the general added.

Yudin's interview came just a day before a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 was scrambled to intercept a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea. Russian radars had detected the American patrol plane over the neutral waters of the Black Sea as it approached Russia's sovereign airspace.

"A Su-27 fighter jet of the Southern Military District's air defense units on duty was scrambled to identify the air target and to prevent it from violating the state border of the Russian Federation," Russia's National Defense Control Center said in a statement according to another report in Tass. "The Russian fighter jet crew identified the air target as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force and escorted it over the Black Sea."

No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was allowed, and the flight of the Russian fighter jet was conducted in strict compliance with international airspace rules.

Russia's Own Patrols

Even as Yudin has noted the increased presence of patrols near Russian airspace, Russia has conducted its own reconnaissance flights in the waters around Europe. The same day that the Su-27 sortied over the Black Sea, British Eurofighter Typhoon jets were scrambled from the Royal Air Force (RAF) Lossiemouth near Moray, in north-east Scotland to intercept two Tu-142 Bear F aircraft over the North Sea.

According to the BBC, the RAF said that the Russian aircraft were used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and maritime patrol. The RAF said it was "essential" that the Russian aircraft were "carefully monitored" while operating so close to the UK.

A concern is that the Russian bombers were flying within "the UK Flight Information Region" and thus could be a hazard in the busy airspace of the North Sea. The RAF has noted that the bombers do not "squawk" by transmitting information on their position and movements to UK or other European air traffic controllers, which required that civilian planes had to be rerouted as a matter of precaution.

"The crew did a fantastic job, locating aircraft that were not easy to detect very quickly," an RAF spokesperson added. "Again, the RAF has scrambled to defend the interests of the UK and NATO. It demonstrates the efficiency and resilience of our personnel, aircraft and systems."

The Tupolev Tu-142 is a Cold War-era maritime reconnaissance and ASW aircraft that was derived from the Tu-95 turboprop strategic bomber. It was produced from 1968 to 1994 and some one hundred of the aircraft were built. It is not known how many are still operational, but it is likely more than the pair of Tu-142s that paid that weekend visit to the North Sea. Earlier this year and another pair of Tu-142 patrol planes took part in one of the longest-ever flights in international air space.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Reuters.