New Photos of Russian Planes intercepted by Norwegian Fighter Jets

Here’s a nice collection of images shot by the Royal Norwegian Air Force during the recent close encounters with Russians off Norway.

On Dec. 18, two RNoAF F-16s in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) were scrambled from Bodo airbase to intercept an unidentified aircraft flying off the north of Norway.

The aircraft was later identified as an Il-20 Coot intelligence gathering plane, flying in international airspace off Finmark.

The news of the latest close encounter was given by the Norwegian media outlet Nordland in an article on their website which included an extremely interesting collection of images (some of those posted below) taken by RNoAF pilots during recent intercept missions of Russian Air Force combat planes.

Here below, an armed Mig-31:

Mig-31 side
A couple of weeks ago, the RNoAF released HUD (Head Up Display) footage of an F-16 almost colliding mid-air with a Russian Mig-31 Foxhound flying alongside Su-34 Fullbacks.

Below, an armed Tu-22M:

Tu-22

Tu-22 missile

A Su-24 Fencer:

Su-24

Bottow view of an armed Mig-31 Foxhound:

Mig-31

Il-78 refueling a Tu-95 Bear:

Il-78 refueled

Image credit: RNoAF

H/T to Stefan Bøyum Schlömilch for the heads-up

 

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.