RAF Jets Log Near Misses With Suspected Drones at High Altitude

British military jets encountered suspected drones on at least two occasions this year while carrying out exercises, a newspaper has claimed. 

British news outlet The Telegraph reported on Friday that aircraft from the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) had near misses with the objects in February while flying many times above the legal height limit for commercial drones.  

The outlet cited RAF incident logs it had seen. 

News of the suspected drone encounters comes amid heightened concerns in Europe over apparently increasing levels of Russian hybrid warfare and espionage activity aimed at undermining NATO unity and reducing support for Ukraine. 

The first incident took place on Feb. 18 while an RAF Airbus Voyager tanker aircraft was refueling a Typhoon fighter jet near Norfolk above eastern England, with the Voyager pilot reporting that the “potential drone” flew so close to the plane that it made the pilot “instinctively duck”, according to The Telegraph. 

The incident reportedly occurred at an altitude of around 17,000 feet (5,181 meters) – well above the legal limit of 400 feet (121 meters) for commercial drones in the UK. 

The second encounter took place just days later, on February 23, when a Typhoon fighter jet pilot taking part in dogfighting exercises spotted a “black circular object (similar in size to a car tire) pass directly above him”, according to the report cited by The Telegraph.  That incident reportedly occurred at an altitude of about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of England. 

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There has been no confirmation on what the objects were or where they originated.