There was an incident over the Baltic Sea involving a German Navy reconnaissance aircraft and a Russian Army fighter jet.
The Bundeswehr takes a position on this.
Munich/Kaliningrad – Incident over the Baltic Sea: According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, Russia launched a fighter jet this Monday (January 16) because a German reconnaissance aircraft had approached Russian airspace.
Baltic Sea: Russian fighter jet intercepts German reconnaissance aircraft near Kaliningrad
According to the ministry, a Su-27 fighter jet was used to "identify an air target and prevent an infringement of the state border".
The fighter jet then discovered a German P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft and "accompanied it over the Baltic Sea," Moscow said.
A spokesman for the German Navy confirmed that a plane was temporarily accompanied by a Russian machine during a routine reconnaissance flight in international airspace off Kaliningrad.
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Since the Russian attack on Ukraine and the associated tensions with the transatlantic defense alliance NATO, the number of military encounters with Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea has increased.
For example, on April 30, the German Air Force pushed a Russian military plane off near Rügen.
Similar incidents also occurred in Swedish and Danish airspace.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave located on the southern edge of the Baltic States between Lithuania and Poland.
It borders the Gdańsk Bay and is located in the Baltic Sea opposite the Polish city of Gdańsk.
The Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy is stationed in the Russian region with just over a million inhabitants.
According to unconfirmed reports, Russia is also said to be storing Iskander medium-range missiles (up to 500 km range) there.
Kaliningrad, known as Königsberg in what was then East Prussia, once belonged to Germany.
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A Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the German Navy.
(archive photo)
© IMAGO / Frank concern
"Flying Eye of the Navy": P-3C Orion aircraft are used by the Bundeswehr for reconnaissance
The P-3C Orion aircraft is used by the Bundeswehr for reconnaissance, maritime surveillance and submarine hunting.
According to the Bundeswehr, radar, a laser range finder and an infrared video camera combination make the large reconnaissance aircraft the "flying eye of the Navy".
(pm/AFP)
