UK sends fighters to intercept Russian jet

British jets were scrambled to investigate a suspected Russian fighter aircraft flying near UK airspace yesterday. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said there was no threat to UK airspace. Britain routinely monitors Russian warplanes near its skies and Royal Air Force fighters intercepted jets flying over the North Sea last month. Britain’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, spoke about “an ever more assertive Russia” in a speech in London in July. He said the RAF had to scramble jets more than 80 times over the last decade to intercept Russian military aircraft.