RAF man guarding Europe’s skies from Putin
Typhoons intercept 40 Russian planes in four months after deployment to Estonia to reassure Nato allies and deter Kremlin ambition
Wing Commander Gordon Melville is the commanding officer of 140 Expeditionary Air Wing, stationed at Amari Air Base, Estonia, as part of a strengthened Nato presence intended to deter any aggression from neighbouring Russia. His crews have intercepted 40 Russian planes in four months.
WHEN the siren sounded, the RAF pilots dashed for the cockpits of their Typhoons. Within minutes, two jet fighters were streaking across a summer sky, their wings laden with air-to-air missiles, searching for unidentified intruders they know as “bandits”.
Over the next half hour, Wing Commander Roger Elliott and his wingman would make three separate interceptions of Russian military aircraft. “You do have adrenalin pumping and when you launch, you don’t know what’s out there,” said Wg Cdr Elliott. “But it also makes you feel very satisfied because that is what we’re here to do.”
These pilots from II Squadron took off not from their home station at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, but from an old Soviet base located only 160 miles from Russia – or seven minutes flying time for a Typhoon at full speed.
These jets are part of Nato’s “Baltic Air Policing Mission”, which guards the skies over the alliance’s three most exposed members.
Nato jets have guarded the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania since the three former Soviet republics joined the alliance in 2004. But the mission took on extra urgency after Russia annexed Crimea and fuelled a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, raising fears that Vladimir Putin’s newly assertive Kremlin might attempt similar adventurism in the Baltics.
The four RAF Typhoons deployed at Amari Air Base in Estonia are just part of the response. In July, the alliance decided to move four battalions – 3,000 to 4,000 troops, including 650 British troops – into north-eastern Europe on a rotating basis.
Russia denies having territorial ambitions in the Baltics and denounced the move as a dangerous troop buildup. It has announced plans to form three new infantry divisions in its Western military district in response.
Amid mounting tensions, Russian fighters and bombers routinely probe the airspace around the Baltic states, testing the skills and reaction times of their opponents. RAF pilots are used to being on “Quick Reaction Alert” (QRA) in Britain, safeguarding the skies from unidentified intruders. But QRA in Estonia – right next to Russia – presents a far greater challenge.
Since arriving in April, II Squadron pilots have been scrambled 19 times to intercept a total of 40 Russian aircraft.
Back in Britain, the RAF has had less than five “alpha scrambles” – ones that were real, rather than for training – in the whole of 2016. Even then, the Typhoons often find themselves intercepting civilian aircraft that have lost contact with air traffic control.
In Estonia, a scramble will almost always lead to an encounter with the Russian air force. Just before II Squadron arrived at Amari, two Russian Su-24 strike aircraft had carried out mock attacks on a US warship in the Baltic. Then came Exercise Spring Storm, the annual manoeuvres of Estonia’s army.
It was during this tense period that Wg Cdr Elliott and his wingman were scrambled. “The alarm went and we jumped into the aeroplanes. All other aircraft were held on the ground so that we could take off,” he recalled. The Typhoons were “vectored” northwest over the Baltic, searching for an unidentified aircraft.
“We were in a tail chase with this aircraft, which turned out to be a Cub,” said Wg Cdr Elliott, using the Nato code name for a Russian military transport plane. “We intercepted him; we were then told to take pictures and escort him.” As he was flying alongside the Cub, another message came over the radio. More “bandits” – unidentified aircraft – were leaving the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to the south.
Leaving the Cub behind, they found another Russian military transport aircraft, a Candid. Then a third “bandit” was detected and the Typhoons once again headed towards it – a Curl, another Russian transport.
Having identified the three intruders and photographed them, the Britons returned to Amari. But Wg Cdr Elliott, the commanding officer of II Squadron, stressed his crews can never be sure how incidents will end.
Later, II Squadron would encounter more menacing Russian “bandits”, including a formation of four Su-27 Flankers escorting a lone Coot. An RAF ground controller, charged with guiding the British pilots to this interception, recalled: “At that point, Sunday 28 August 2016 our two Typhoons were essentially surrounded by air-to-air fighter aircraft. And I’m thinking ‘wow’.”
Again – as in all cases so far – the interception ended without incident. But the crews are ready for anything.
For a 24-hour shift, two pilots must stay in an operations room, ready to scramble when the siren sounds. Like their predecessors in the Battle of Britain, they read newspapers or books, while they wait. When the alarm rings, they run to hangars, each housing a fuelled and armed Typhoon.
Mounted on the plane’s wings are heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, designed to destroy aircraft at short distances. Beneath the fuselage are radar-guided missiles for longer range. A Mauser cannon, loaded with 27mm shells, wraps up the air-to-air armoury.
The pilots bound up 11 green metal steps to the cockpit; on top lie their helmet, oxygen mask and life jacket. After donning these crucial items, they jump in, while ground crews remove the chocks from the fighters’ wheels.
Then their £70 million jets are ready for take-off, climbing vertically to 10,000ft – or “angels 10” – in seconds.
Wg Cdr Gordon Melville, the commanding officer of 140 Expeditionary Air Wing, described the mission as “vital”, adding: “This is part of the solidarity of all Nato nations – the shared requirement to secure all of Nato’s airspace.” ***