French Rafales Scramble to Intercept Russian Reconnaissance Aircraft Over Baltic

Two Russian aircraft, a reconnaissance Il-20M and an Il-78, which did not comply with international flight regulations, were intercepted by French Rafale fighter jets off the coast of Latvia.

The French Armed Forces General Staff confirmed the incident on February 17 as part of the ongoing Air Policing Missions conducted by French fighter jets in the region.

According to the report, it is likely that the Russian military aircraft was carrying out a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering flight without properly filing a flight plan and with its transponders switched off. This violation triggered the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) protocol, prompting the French fighters to respond.

Upon interception, the Rafales identified the aircraft as an Il-20M Coot-A, a variant designed for SIGINT/COMINT (signals intelligence and communications intelligence) missions. Based on the Ilyushin Il-18 airframe, the Il-20M is frequently deployed by the Russian Aerospace Forces to monitor NATO response times.

This latest encounter between French and Russian aircraft comes just weeks after a similar incident in mid-January, when the French government reported that a Russian Armed Forces S-400 air defense system locked onto a French Navy Atlantique 2 patrol aircraft while it was flying over the Baltic.

Previously, it was reported that Russia has established a new unit within its military intelligence service (GRU) to carry out covert operations in Europe and beyond, according to Western intelligence officials cited by The Wall Street Journal on February 15.