Three western aircraft carried out reconnaissance missions near the borders of the Kaliningrad region
Russia's Interfax news agency reported citing western websites that track the flights of military aircraft that on Tuesday, February 28, three military aircraft from the United States, Sweden and NATO were conducting reconnaissance at the Russian border in the south of the Baltic.
According to the agency, operational tasks near the coast of the Kaliningrad region were carried out by the U.S. Air Force’s RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft, NATO's E-3A AWACS airborne early warning and control aircraft, as well as Gulfstream 4 reconnaissance aircraft from the Swedish Air Force.
The American electronic intelligence aircraft with tail number 62-4138 and call sign FUJI57, took off from Mildenhall Air Base in Great Britain and cruised for more than three hours was along the southern border of the Kaliningrad region while staying in Polish airspace.
The Swedish Gulfstream 4 with tail number 102002 and call sign SVF622, made an approach from the sea and flew for an extended period of time along the border of the Kaliningrad region, circling in an elongated ellipse at an altitude of about 12 thousand meters over the international waters of the Baltic Sea.
The NATO AWACS aircraft with tail number LX-N90444 and call sign NATO06 took off from the NATO base in Geilenkirchen, Germany and was registered to the south-west of the Kaliningrad region over Polish territory.
Over the last year, the frequency of U.S. reconnaissance plane flights near the Russian border has risen sharply, particularly over the Baltic Sea, as well as near the coast of the annexed Crimea, the Russian bases in Syria and Russian Navy deployments in the eastern Mediterranean. At least two operations of this nature are registered daily.
Recently, reconnaissance flights near the borders of the Kaliningrad region were also carried out by the British Royal Air Force, the German Luftwaffe and the French Armée de l'air. Russian borders in the Baltic Sea are also regularly approached by AWACS planes from NATO Command.
During the meeting of NATO defense ministers held on February 16 in Brussels, at least seven U.S. and NATO aircraft were involved in reconnaissance operations near Russian borders in the Baltic Sea and in the Black Sea.