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Written question asked by Lord Temple-Morris (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 February 2018, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 March 2018. It was answered by Earl Howe (Conservative) on Thursday, 1 March 2018 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.


Russia: Military Aircraft

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many approaches to UK airspace by Russian military aircraft were detected during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.

Answer

The RAF's Air Surveillance and Control System at RAF Boulmer is fully integrated with NATO allies and the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem in Germany, which manages NATO's response to such activity. This allows NATO to react in good time to aircraft approaching the airspace of both the UK and our NATO allies.

I am withholding details of the number of occasions Russian military aircraft were detected approaching UK airspace. The disclosure of this information would reveal details of the air defence of the UK which would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

However, Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby launched to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching UK airspace on five days in 2016 and three days in 2017.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL5678
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Military aircraft Russia Airspace
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk