Four western reconnaissance aircraft scouted Russian borders in the Baltic and Black Sea
Four Swedish, US, and NATO reconnaissance aircraft simultaneously conducted reconnaissance flights on Wednesday near Russia's borders in the south of the Baltic Sea and in the Black Sea, according to data from websites that track the movement of military aircraft, Interfax reported.
A strategic RC-135W US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft with tail number 62-4138 and call sign FILE10, after taking off from the airbase in Mildenhall, UK approached the Kaliningrad region from the sea to perform operational tasks. In the same area, along the Russian coast, a Swedish reconnaissance Gulfstream 4 aircraft with tail number 102003 SVF623 was active. Meanwhile, a NATO E-3A AWACS with tail number LX-N90442 and call sign NATO06 took off from a NATO base in Geilenkirchen, Germany to conduct surveillance of the Kaliningrad region from the South. Another NATO AWACS with tail number LX-N90451 and call sign NATO07, after departing from the NATO base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, headed for Romania, to conduct surveillance over the Crimea.
In the recent months, the intensity of flights of US military aircraft, NATO, and Sweden near the Russian borders has dramatically increased. Particularly, in the Baltic Sea, near the coast of the Crimea, the Russian bases in Syria and areas of deployment of Russian naval warships in the Eastern Mediterranean. Two or more of such flights are recorded almost every day.
The observers note that reconnaissance flights became more frequent near the Kaliningrad region after transferred nuclear-capable missile systems to the Baltic from the Black Sea fleet.