France, Britain Mount Beefy Air Surveillance Op Over Black Sea, Making Close Approach to Crimea

A record-breaking French-British air operation saw NATO fighters make a close approach to Crimea in the rare use of carrier-based aircraft, and a US Air Force U2 spy plane,  a leading Russian military information platform confirmed Tuesday.

At least thirteen military aircraft, launched from bases in Britain, Romania, Italy, France and the French Navy’s Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, converged in and around airspace over the western Black Sea in a multinational operation flown on April 11, the widely read Dva Majora milblogger reported to more than 1.3 million subscribers.

The official Russian state news platform Pravda confirmed that report on Wednesday.

Seven NATO aircraft conducted simultaneous surveillance of airspace and land installations from Romania to the Crimean Peninsula, and eight other military aircraft, including tankers and fighters, supported the operation, the Russian platforms said.

Western sources confirmed that the major air surveillance operation, flown mostly by Service Aéronautique and Royal Air Force aircraft, remained in international airspace, and that Russian air and land forces appeared not to have interfered with it.

NATO flies daily patrols over eastern Romania and the seas eastward, but usually with three or fewer aircraft. Approaches toward Crimea – a Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia and containing a major Russian military base and a dense air defense network – rarely take place.

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Based on open-source flight tracking data, the April 11 operation was the largest air surveillance operation mounted by NATO in a single day in the Black Sea at least since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and probably ever, a Kyiv Post review of flight tracking data found.

 According to the Russian report, aircraft detected in the general area included a US Air Force U2S “Dragon Lady” high-altitude spy plane, a US Navy Poseidon P-8A maritime surveillance plane, a NATO (Luxembourg) E-3A AWACS airspace monitoring plane, a French Air Force E-3F airspace monitoring plane, a French Navy  Atlantic 1150 maritime surveillance plane,  and a French Navy E-2D Hawkeye air space monitoring plane.

Based on open-source flight tracking data, it was possibly the first time, ever, both an American U2 spy plane and the French aircraft carrier launched Hawkeye had entered airspace on the NATO southeast sea frontier, Kyiv Post researchers found.

However, that tracking data does not register the presence of aircraft with transponders turned off, so both aircraft might have flown missions in the area before and not been picked up on civilian air tracking networks.

Based on open-source data, no French aircraft closed closer than 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the western shore of the Crimean Peninsula.

According to the Russian source, the French Hawkeye, flown from the Charles De Gaulle in the Mediterranean, was escorted by a pair of Rafale fighter jets launched from the carrier, and two more Rafales based at Robinson Air Base in France.

The closest aircraft approach to Russia-claimed airspace of the day was made by three British aircraft – an RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance plane escorted by two Typhoon fighters – all launched from the UK. The RC-135’s primary design function is to detect and fix the location of emitters, like communications nodes and air defense radars.

The Royal Air Force aircraft trio approached to within 130 kilometers (81 miles) of Crimea’s south-western Cape Fiolent before turning back. No incidents or Russian interference was reported.

On Sept. 29 2022, a Russian fighter pilot fired a missile at a British spy plane flying over international waters near Crimea. The missile missed its target. London and Moscow later said it was an accident.

The Kremlin made no direct comment on the intensified NATO air activity, but in the past has called such operations dangerous and provocative.

Dva Mayora: “Such intensity is a very alarming sign that could indicate upcoming massive attacks in the Black Sea area. So we should remain extremely vigilant.”

Western information sources generally confirmed Russian reports, but with slight differences in details. The French maritime news platform, La Marin, confirmed 13 mixed British and French aircraft had participated in an air intelligence operation over the Black Sea, including planes from the Charles De Gaulle, but did not mention US presence and stated that some Royal Air Force planes had been based in Cyprus.

The Italian military air operations tracker, Itamilradar, likewise confirmed a total 13 aircraft participating in the operation, naming some aircraft tail numbers and call signs. One flying tanker flew in from Cyprus, and one and possibly more of the French Rafale fighter planes, besides flying escort, performed air surveillance on their own, that source said.

The UK Defence Journal said: “French and British forces carried out a high-profile aerial operation over the western Black Sea this week, showcasing a coordinated display of reconnaissance and air superiority…The mission’s scale and complexity suggest a clear intent by both London and Paris to maintain pressure on Russia.”