RAF Typhoons and HMS Dragon have been dispatched this week to maintain the integrity UK airspace and waters.
HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, monitored the movement of the Russian Udaloy Class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov as she approached British waters in the standard and well-established response to relatively regular events.
Captain Iain Lower of HMS Dragon said:
For a mission like this, it is not about sending any ship; we need speed, we need endurance, and, as the weather can be atrocious, sea-keeping is all-important.
The Russian Navy is a very capable force and it is right that the Royal Navy sends a ship that is credible, and none are more so than the Type 45 destroyer. With the world’s best air defence radars, Dragon’s sensors are able to monitor UK airspace and sea lanes of communication at very long range.
Also in action on Wednesday were RAF Typhoons, which were launched from RAF Leuchars to intercept and determine the identity of unknown aircraft that were approaching the Nato air policing area north of the Shetland Islands. The aircraft were quickly identified as Russian military aircraft carrying out a routine training sortie in international airspace.
