British English: A Russian Bear 'H' aircraft photographed from an intercepting Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon FGR4 quick reaction alert (QRA) aircraft.

On Wednesday 29 Oct 2014, Royal Air Force Aerospace Battle Managers at RAF Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) Boulmer, alerted and scrambled RAF quick reaction alert (QRA) Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to intercept Russian military ‘Bear’ aircraft who were flying in international airspace.

The RAF Typhoon pilots visually identified the Russian aircraft and escorted them through the UK flight information region. Air to air refuelling (AAR) support was provided by an RAF Voyager aircraft from RAF Brize Norton.

The primary role of the Royal Air Force is to defend the United Kingdom (UK), 365, 24/7; the RAF continually remains alert and ready to intercept any unidentified military or civilian aircraft around UK airspace.

Recent events have increased awareness of Russian military activity, however, the RAF have routinely intercepted, identified and escorted Russian air assets that transit international airspace within the UK's area of interest. Russian military flights have never entered UK sovereign airspace without authorisation.

The primary role of the RAF is to control the air over the UK and, when necessary, UK interests overseas. Our impressive multi-role Typhoon fighter squadrons are based at RAF Coningsby, RAF Lossiemouth, and in the Falkland Islands.

Today and every day, just as during the Battle of Britain, they maintain the highest level of readiness. At home, under the direction of our controllers at RAF Boulmer (Northumberland) and RAF Scampton (Lincolnshire), our fighters can be scrambled to intercept, identify and, if required, intervene unidentified aircraft approaching our shores. This is a routine part of the RAF’s air defence role to protect UK airspace.

QRA are launched to intercept unidentified aircraft because the aircraft cannot be identified by any other means; i.e. the aircraft is not talking to civilian or military Air Traffic Control, has not filed a flight plan, and is not transmitting a recognisable secondary surveillance radar code.

QRA procedures entail RAF aircraft and crews being held at continuous high readiness 24/7, so that they can take off within minutes to protect UK sovereign airspace. Aircraft are available at each base allowing us to provide good response across the country.

AAR - AAR assets will often be scrambled from RAF Brize Norton or re-tasked from other training missions if it looks like an extended mission is likely.

• Organisation: Royal Air Force (RAF)
• Object name: LOS-OFFICIAL-20141029-0884-0010
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental categories: Equipment, Aircraft, Foreign Aircraft
• Keywords: QRA, intercept, Bear, Russian, quick reaction alert, Russia, aircraft
• Country: Scotland