JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets, urgently lifted from the ground by Sweden to intercept Russian aircraft
Sweden announced on Saturday that it had ordered the emergency takeoff of two pairs of JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to intercept two Russian fighter jets flying over the Baltic Sea near its airspace, writes AFP.
The two incidents took place on Friday in the southern and northern Baltic Sea. NATO planes also took off “to maintain security in the shared airspace,” the Swedish military said in a statement.
Swedish airspace was not violated during these two incidents, the military indicated.
“Russia's actions are serious and constitute recurring behavior that threatens both our territorial integrity and our security,” Vice Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum, chief of joint military operations, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Sweden joined NATO in March 2024. Tensions in the Baltic Sea have risen sharply since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
