Royal Air Force Typhoons SCRAMBLE'd

On 14 September 2020, Royal Air Force Typhoons were SCRAMBLE'd from their temporary duty (TDY) location RAF Leuchars (United Kingdom) in response to two Russian Federation - Aerospace Forces (RF VKS) Tu-160 Blackjack that were operating in international airspace over the North Sea.

The Typhoons relieved Norwegian F-16s that were SCRAMBLE'd to to the Russian strategic bomber duo after they flew towards UK airspace. A day earlier, on 13 September, a Quick Reaction Alert was also launched from Leuchars to intercept two Russian Federation - Naval Aviation (AVMF-RF) Tu-142MR maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, that flew into direction of the Scottish coast. These Bear-Fs entered the UK Flight Information Region (FIR) but stayed outside the twelve miles territorial airspace.

A small number of Typhoons have temporarily relocated to Leuchars from home base RAF Lossiemouth to cover Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) during a runway maintenance period at Lossie. The maintenance is done in support of the arrival of the new P-8A Poseidons that will be homed at Lossiemouth from mid-October 2020.