{"id":490972,"date":"2025-10-11T12:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T12:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490972\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T12:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T12:30:20","slug":"british-and-us-planes-fly-12-hour-mission-to-patrol-russian-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490972\/","title":{"rendered":"British and US planes fly 12-hour mission to patrol Russian border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Two British Royal Air Force aircraft flew a 12-hour mission earlier this week alongside US and NATO forces to patrol the border of Russia, United Kingdom Defence Minister John Healy has said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The operation, involving two of the UK&#8217;s most advanced surveillance aircraft, flew along NATO&#8217;s eastern flank and followed a series of recent Russian drone and aircraft incursions into NATO airspace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;This was a substantial joint mission with our US and NATO allies,&#8221; Mr Healey said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"EmphasisedText_quote__TE6kn\"><p>&#8220;Not only does this provide valuable intelligence to boost the operational awareness of our armed forces, but sends a powerful message of NATO unity to Putin and our adversaries.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a map of eastern europe with a plane tracking outlined over the top\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cf97bccebc86694be2ae5b59f8f738a3\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The mission patrolled the border of Russia along NATO\u2019s eastern flank. (UK Royal Air Force)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">An RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic surveillance aircraft and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane flew from the Arctic region past Belarus and Ukraine on Thursday, supported by a US Air Force KC-135 refuelling aircraft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">According to an RAF statement, the USAF&#8217;s refuelling aircraft &#8220;played a critical role in enabling the mission&#8217;s success by providing essential air-to-air refuelling, extending the operational reach of the RAF aircraft&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">RAF Group Captain Matthew D&#8217;Aubyn said the British air force is &#8220;committed to working alongside our allies to ensure the safety and sovereignty of NATO airspace&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;Missions like this demonstrate NATO&#8217;s unity and readiness to defend its members against any aggression,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;Our ability to operate seamlessly with USAF assets underscores the strength of the NATO alliance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"bald white man in black suit and a red tie\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/dc5bdcddea9d3a1cb763e680b8bc6c5c\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">British Defence Secretary John Healey said the mission &#8220;sends a powerful message&#8221; to Russia. (Reuters: Jaimi Joy)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Healy said the operation followed incursions into the airspaces of NATO countries including Poland, Romania and Estonia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Earlier this month, European Union leaders backed plans to strengthen the bloc&#8217;s defences against Russian drones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\"><strong>Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two British Royal Air Force aircraft flew a 12-hour mission earlier this week alongside US and NATO forces&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[11501,2595,2821,2300,332],"class_list":{"0":"post-490972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-aircraft","9":"tag-drones","10":"tag-nato","11":"tag-raf","12":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115355545837520729","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}