RAF jets forced to intercept SECOND Russian bomber in UK airspace

RAF jets have been forced to intercept a second Russian bomber flying in UK airspace, it has been revealed.
The Typhoons escorted the Russian Bear bomber as it approached British airspace.
It is the second appearance of Russian aircraft in just three days.
On Wednesday, RAF officers were forced to intervene when two Bear bombers were tracked over the North Sea.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft which neared British airspace yesterday was "escorted through the UK flight information region."
An RAF spokeswoman confirmed the Russian aircraft has been picked up by the RAF Control and Reporting Centre at Boulmer in Northumberland, which scrambled the Typhoons.
She said: "Following a similar incident on Wednesday 29 October, the RAF Typhoon pilots visually identified the Russian aircraft and escorted them through the UK flight information region."
NATO radars have picked up a series of Russian formations engaged in "significant military manoeuvres ranging from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean" in recent months.
It involved two Bears that had originally been part of a larger formation of eight aircraft - including four Il-78 tanker planes - intercepted by Norwegian F-16 fighters in international airspace over the Norwegian Sea.
While six of the planes returned back towards Russia, the two Bears carried on towards the UK where they were picked up by Boulmer in Northumberland. The Bears continued on over the Atlantic to the west of Portugal, where they were intercepted by Portuguese Air Force F-16s before turning back.
The Russian flight coincided with similar incidents over the Black Sea and the Baltic where Russian military formations were intercepted by Turkish fighters and Portuguese jets assigned to the Nato Baltic air policing mission.
They come against a background of months of heightened tensions between Moscow and the West following Russia's annexation of Crimea and military incursion into Ukraine.
On Wednesday RAF Typhoon fighters were also launched to intercept a civilian aircraft which was causing concern to air traffic control authorities.
The aircraft, a Russian-made Antonov An-26 cargo airliner from Latvia, was safely escorted to London Stansted after being intercepted by aircraft from RAF Coningsby when communication with it was lost.
It was later allowed to continue its original journey to Birmingham.
express