Russian Patrol Plane Harasses Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier With Sonobuoys

Last week, a Russian maritime patrol aircraft made a close pass by a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and dropped large numbers of sonobuoys near it at close range, prompting a message of protest from the British government.

On July 2, HMS Prince of Wales and her escorts were operating off the coast of Norway when they encountered a Russian Bear-F maritime patrol aircraft, a large Soviet-era turboprop plane originally designed as a strategic bomber. The Bear-F pilot "repeatedly approached" the carrier and dropped dozens of sonobuoys into the water nearby. The aircraft did not respond to repeated radio hails, the UK MoD said. HMS Prince of Wales' fighters escorted the Russian plane out of the area.

"The Bear-F passed at low altitude and unnecessarily close to HMS Prince of Wales," the agency said in a statement. "This activity was unsafe and unprofessional."

The new UK defense secretary, Dan Jarvis, flew out to meet HMS Prince of Wales off the coast of Iceland over the weekend. "We live in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain time, and it’s deployments like this, supported by allies and partners including Iceland, that improve our deterrence and defense as part of NATO," Jarvis said.

In comments to local Channel 4, Jarvis was more explicit. "We should be clear-eyed about the fact that the threat from Russia exists in every domain, under the water, on the water, on the land, in the sky, in space and in cyberspace as well," he said.

Harassment incidents between NATO vessels and Russian warships were common during the Soviet era, and with ongoing European sponsorship of the Ukrainian side in the Russian invasion of the Donbas, encounters have been on the rise once again. Last month, a Russian warship fired warning shots near a British yacht in the English channel, drawing complaints from the British government. And the Royal Navy reports a substantial increase in Russian covert activity near UK waters, including visits by the Russian spy ship Yantar, believed to be part of Russia's program to exploit subsea cable vulnerabilities.