Swedish and Danish air forces in joint action after Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea

On Thursday 21 April, two Swedish Jas 39 Gripen and two Danish F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets followed a Russian Ilyushin-20 military reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. It is the first time that a synchronised effort has been carried out in this way. During the entire operation, the Swedish and Danish airlines were under their own national management.

“This synchronised effort is proof of our close and good cooperation with the Danish air force. Together, we take responsibility for securing the airspace over the Baltic Sea through our respective incident preparedness units,” says Deputy Swedish Air Force Chief Tommy Petersson.

It was shortly after 13:00 on Thursday that the Swedish and Danish warplanes encountered the Russian military reconnaissance aircraft, which was heading west, in the area between Sweden, Danish Zealand and Bornholm.

“We see Russian military aircraft patrolling the Baltic Sea at regular intervals, so sending up our Swedish incident report is a routine mission for us. It is part of our active defence,” says Tommy Petersson.

After following the Russian aircraft’s route for some time, the fighter jets returned to their respective home bases.

Source: Försvarsmakten

The Ilyushin Il-20M (NATO code name: “Coot-A” ) is a COMINT / ELINT variant of the Ilyushin Il-18. It was first observed by NATO in 1978.

The aircraft is equipped with special electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) equipment. The cigar-shaped case under the fuselage contains the Igla-1 – Side-looking airborne radar (SLAR). This is used for radar imaging and mapping purposes. A large A-87P camera is housed in another housing on the side of the fuselage. The aircraft houses the Vischnia, SRS-4 Romb and Kwadrat-2 ELINT systems. There are various antennas on the fuselage for collecting electronic data. The two large antennas on the top of the fuselage are used for satellite communication. The Il-20M can thus transmit information to the ground command in near real-time.

Source: Wikipedia