Soaring thousands of feet above Nato’s Baltic border with Russia, British fighter pilots are acutely aware that one false move could trigger a global conflict.
“It would be very easy, if I waved, to fold up my hand into this [a middle finger], and then that goes out on the news and suddenly it’s an international incident,” a plucky Royal Air Force pilot said as he described intercepting a Kremlin spyplane in his Typhoon jet.
The flight lieutenant, 32, is among a handful of aviators from II (AC) Squadron who have been given the task of tracking down and deterring aircraft that encroach on alliance airspace.
Speaking to The Times from the tarmac of Malbork airbase in Poland — about 50 miles from Kaliningrad oblast, Russia’s exclave on the Baltic coast — he said that aviators were under unprecedented pressure as they came face to face with other warplanes in the skies.
“What we don’t want to do here is anything that can be misconstrued as aggressive,” he said, such as manoeuvring into a firing position or giving the wrong hand signal from the cockpit. Even something as simple as turning can quickly develop if interpreted as a hostile move to gain an aerial advantage. “Once you start turning, are you fighting?”
The aviator, who cannot be named for security reasons, said the RAF’s presence in the region sent a strategic message to Russia: “We’re here to deter any aggression or any infraction into airspace. Come as many times as you want. We’ll scramble every time and I’ll meet you here every time.”
The Typhoon pilots say that the hardest part of the job is the waiting
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
The Russians appear to be doing just that. Two weeks ago, British Typhoons, armed with 27mm cannons and Meteor air-to-air missiles, were scrambled from the airbase three times in three days to identify and escort Kremlin SU-30MKI fighter jets and Coot-A surveillance aircraft.
• RAF Typhoons scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft in Nato airspace
Pilots have revealed that the hardest part is the waiting for the appearance of “bogies” or “zombies” — military terms for radar blips or unidentified aircraft that are observed flying suspiciously near Nato borders.
Crews of the 200 RAF personnel stationed at Malbork are on standby 24 hours a day in the hangar, ready to spring into action to get jets airborne in a matter of minutes.
“When the bell goes, you’re in full sprint, jacket on, helmet on,” said the aviator, who admitted he almost snapped his hamstring running for his first ever Russian interception last month.
RAF Typhoons test fire Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile systems above Scotland in 2022
Training takes over as their minds switch to “autopilot” in those first few moments. “Very often you find yourself sat in the jet, engines running, ready to go, and thinking: how did I get here?” he said.
Fear, followed by adrenaline, then takes hold inside the cockpit.
“Going through my head? Absolutely, fear. I think we all have a little bit of imposter syndrome. You know, am I ready for this? Is it going to be a big deal? Is it going to be important? And an absolute determination to do a good job, to do the RAF proud and to carry out my duty,” the pilot said.
RAF fighter pilots train for scrambles at a Nato airbase
A scramble is one of the rare occasions when fighter jets are cleared to break the sound barrier over land, which is usually forbidden to prevent damage to towns and cities below. Threat assessments are made each time to determine if doing so is necessary, as “what we don’t want to be doing is dropping a sonic boom over Malbork and smashing everybody’s windows,” the pilot said.
Within two minutes a Typhoon, which has a top speed of Mach 1.8 — about 1,380mph — can reach altitudes of 30,000ft. By comparison it takes 30 minutes for commercial airlines to reach the same height. It is then their job to locate the bogie, relay as much information as possible about its route and activity back to base, and ultimately deter it from violating Nato airspace.
Typhoons are able to reach high speeds and altitudes within minutes of take-off
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
A total of six British fighter jets were deployed to the eastern Poland airbase last month to begin a landmark air policing deployment as part of Operation Chessman. It marks the first time the RAF pilots have joined forces with Sweden, Nato’s newest member, on flying missions.
Between scrambles, Britons have been practising dogfights with their Polish and Swedish counterparts, who fly MiG-29s and Saab AS 39 Gripen fighter jets, respectively.
RAF intercepts a Russian Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling tanker in 2020
In modern aerial combat, while pulling nine Gs and flying at near supersonic speeds, allied aviators agree “you’re fighting the man, not the machine” most of the time.
Although weapons, equipment and an aircraft’s capability are all important, training trumps the lot. “He could be flying the best aircraft on the planet, but if he’s the most junior guy I’m probably in a better position,” the British pilot said.
To stay conscious at altitudes of up to 55,000ft, an oxygen mask forces air into the lungs to keep the chest expanded, while the flight suit inflates “from the bottom up” to ensure the blood doesn’t drain from the upper body.
A pilot signals that he is ready to go from the cockpit
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
The daily exercises from Malbork are designed to prepare pilots for any threat posed by Russian adversaries, who have a reputation for conducting aggressive manoeuvres in the air.
Earlier this year, off the coast of Ukraine, two Typhoon jets escorting an RAF Rivet Joint spy plane were warned that they would be “destroyed” by if they continued flying towards the Crimean peninsula.
“You are approaching the state border of the Russian Federation combat zone. If you don’t leave, you will be destroyed,” a Russian pilot said.
Such threats have been taken more seriously in recent years after a Russian jet tried to shoot down another Rivet Joint over the Black Sea in 2022.
Two Su-27 fighter planes were ordered to shadow the fully-crewed RAF aircraft as it flew through international airspace south of Ukraine on a surveillance mission.
However, intercepted communications from the Kremlin fighters revealed that one pilot misunderstood the instruction “you have the target” and unleashed an air-to-air missile. Luckily, the warhead missed because it failed to lock on to its target, sparing the lives of about 30 crew on board and narrowly averting a major international incident.
By comparison, Nato pilots defending European airspace insist their objective is to de-escalate. “We’re here as a defence function, not an offensive function,” one said last week. “It’s absolutely a show of presence. To show [the Russians] that the RAF is here and we’re going to provide the same level of security that we would provide to the United Kingdom.”