TYPHOON JETS HAVE been scrambled to respond to “unidentified aircraft” approaching the United Kingdom, the Royal Air Force has confirmed.

The jets, launched from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, are joined by a Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

An RAF spokesman declined to provide further detail on the operation until it is over.

The RAF routinely intercepts aircraft approaching what it describes as the “UK area of interest”.

In November 2021, jets were launched in response to Russian TU-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.

Officials said at the time the fighters escorted the Russian aircraft out of the “area of interest”, and that the bombers did not enter UK airspace.

Meanwhile, the Irish Defence Forces along with French, British and US naval forces have begun monitoring the movements of Russian ships en route to an exercise off the south coast. 

Sources have confirmed to The Journal that an Irish Air Corps aircraft was patrolling south of Cork yesterday.

The Russians have decided to transit through the English channel and will have to cross the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone to get to the new location for their naval drills. 

With reporting by Niall O’Connor