The drone of two Russian nuclear bombers passing along Britain’s South Coast and endangering our civilian airliners should be a deafening wake-up call to our leaders about the threat we face from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Two Typhoon fighters — which can travel at twice the speed of sound — scrambled on Wednesday from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, screeching through British skies to intercept the Russian Bear Tu-95s, unexpected and unwelcome guests off our shores. Detected first by our Norwegian allies, the Russian planes were then ‘spotted’ by RAF radar stations in Staxton Wold in Yorkshire and Neatishead in Norfolk.
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This week, two Russian Bear Tu-95s were intercepted over Bournemouth
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A show of strength by Vladimir Putin, it is a threat that needs addressed
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Latest in a line of incidents where Kremlin is testing Western resolve
On orders from @placeholder, the Russian warplanes fly with their transponders — devices which emit an identifying signal — switched off, making them invisible to civilian air traffic.