RAF Typhoon fighter-jet from Kogalniceanu air base intercepts Russian bombers over the Black Sea

A Royal Air Force Typhoon based in Romania was launched on Tuesday as a response to Russian nuclear bomber operating near NATO airspace over the Black Sea.

Operating from the Romanian Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Constanta on the Black Sea coast, the RAF Typhoon responded to Russian Federation Air Force TU-22 Backfire strategic bombers heading south near NATO air space, dailymail.co.uk reports.

The Russian military jets were flying over the western Black Sea and were monitored by the Typhoon.

The Tupolevs – the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union – were tracked as they departed south but the jets did not come within visual range of each other.

Previously NATO’s Air Surveillance and Control System had detected several tracks of non-NATO military aircraft flying over the Black Sea, which were later identified as the two Russian jets.

The NATO Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) at Torrejon Spain, ordered a RAF Typhoon jet to scramble and shadow the Russian jets flying in international airspace in the vicinity of NATO airspace.

The RAF mission in Romania is part of NATO’s Assurance Measures introduced in 2014.