The Royal Air Force and US Air Force joined together in a joint training exercise over the North Sea in a show of force to Vladimir Putin after the tensions over the war in Ukraine escalated.
RAF Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets joined together with USAF B-1B Lancer bombers, which can reach speeds of 950mph, which would make Moscow just a short flight away from Britain, during the joint drills.
Lancer bombers are capable of carrying nuclear weapons but have not done so since 2007. The super high-tech aircraft were commissioned by the US Air Force to replace the aging B-52 bomber fleet.
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Pictures shared by the RAF on their Twitter page show a British Typhoon and F-35 flying in formation with the bombers over the North Sea. In one photo the pilots of both the bomber and jet can clearly see one another.
The flight comes as two French Mirage 2000-5s were sent to cut off Russian SU-30-M aircraft after they flew over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, reports The Express. The NATO and Russian military encounters come as Ukrainian forces have suffered a series of setbacks on the frontline in the war against Putin’s war machine.
The Russian leader was in a bullish mood this week during an annual address to the nation in which he said his country’s nuclear forces were at “full readiness”.
Putin, who is expected to “win” another term as president in elections later this year, has been accused of killing his main political rival Alexei Navalny who died in a penal colony last month. In a rare act of resistance against Putin and the Kremlin, hundreds gathered to pay their respects to Mr Navalny, the leading opposition party leader, at his funeral near Moscow on Friday.
Despite Russia’s ongoing nuclear threats, NATO remains steadfast. The alliance is set to welcome Sweden soon, following Finland’s acceptance last year.
On the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, stated that Ukraine’s joining of the military partnership was ‘not if, but when’.
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