Small cracks are discovered in several of the fighter jets that normally are scrambled when Russia’s strategic bombers fly outside the coast of northern Norway.“We have found cracks in a significant number of aircrafts, but will not comment on how many,” the Ministry of Defense and the Air Force said. “The Air Force takes this case seriously and is working continuously to solve the problems. The cracks occur in the hull under the cockpit. Some of the planes with cracks can still be used, while others must be repaired first,” the e-mail reads.
The Ministry of Defense says the remaining operative aircrafts maintain Norway’s combat emergency readiness and the participation in NATOs Baltic Air Policing.
On August 21 this year Norway did not scramble F-16s to meet a pair of Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers flying outside the coast. Flying into the North Sea, Dutch, Danish and British airforces did scramble their fighter jets. The same happened on April 23 when two Tu-95 bombers were flying outside Norwegian airspace and figher jets were scrambled from Unied Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands, but not Norway, as reported by BarentsObserver.
On June 26 two Norwegian F-16s were scrambled towards Russian military aircrafts over the Barents Sea. F-16s have their main air base in Bodø, just north of the Arctic Circle in northern Norway.
Russian aircrafts and strategic bombers have taken to the skies way more frequently over the last few years. From 2007, the strategic bombers have regularly been flying outside Norwegian airspace in the north.
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