The number of times NATO fighter jet scrambled to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching allied airspace over Europe has changed little in 2024 compared to 2023, even as Western leaders grow increasingly worried about Russian aggression and hybrid warfare targeting European countries within the alliance.
NATO’s Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, saw “no sensitive uptick” in Russian air activity over Europe, an alliance official told Defense News. The number of intercepts “remained mostly the same” from the previous year, when NATO air policing missions scrambled well over 300 times to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching allied airspace, mostly over the Baltic Sea. […]
Scrambles to monitor Russian military aircraft reportedly saw a peak in 2022, nearly doubling from a year earlier to 570 due to the start of the war in Ukraine. The jump came amid increased activity by the Russian military, and a stronger NATO presence on Europe’s eastern flank meaning more fighter jets available for air surveillance, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, citing DPA. Läs artikel