A tense encounter between British and Russian fighter jet pilots has been revealed in cockpit footage taken off the coast of Ukraine. Two Typhoon jets escorting the RAF’s ‘Rivet Joint’ spy plane were warned that they would be ‘destroyed’ by Vladimir Putin’s forces if they continued flying towards the Crimean peninsular. In a separate disclosure, figures showing how British jets have been repeatedly scrambled to intercept Russian bombers have been released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Seven launches in response to the Kremlin’s long-range ‘Bears’ and other rogue aircraft in or near UK airspace took place last year, the information obtained by Metro shows. The high stakes game is captured in the footage taken over the Black Sea where a Russian message transmitted to all three RAF aircraft says: ‘Ivory Eagle, Ivory Eagle, Ivory Eagle, Delta Echo Zemlya. ‘You are approaching the state border of the Russian Federation combat zone. If you don’t leave, you will be destroyed.’.

Typhoon pilots Josh and Joe, of 11 Squadron based at RAF Coningsby, had made 500mph flights from the extremely busy RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to meet up with the spy plane over Romania. They flew alongside the ‘electronic hoover’ — as Flt Lt Josh describes the eavesdropping aircraft — as it headed over the Black Sea to gather military intelligence about Vladimir Putin’s forces. Ahead of the sortie, he said: ‘We know 100% that there’s going to be Russian surface-to-air missile systems that will be looking at us, Russian fighter jets. We don’t know what’s going to happen.’.

Talking viewers through the encounter, which took place during one of the most dangerous missions undertaken by the RAF, Flt Lt Josh reflects: ‘This could be game over for us.’. The sophisticated Rivet Joint, which is bristling with intelligence-gathering technology, and the fighter jet pilots then have a decision to make. The stakes at play were underscored in September 2022 when one of two Russian SU-27 jets released a missile in the vicinity of a Rivet Joint on routine patrol over the Black Sea.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. After a game of cat and mouse with the interceptor jet, the RAF formation turns around just short of the Crimean coast in the footage captured for Channel 4’s Top Guns: Inside the RAF, which airs tonight. The Metro can today reveal the threat closer to home, with figures showing the number of times the RAF has launched quick reaction alerts (QRAs) against Russian and other aircraft.

In 2024, crews on constant standby were scrambled on four occasions to intercept the Kremlin’s long-range military aircraft and three in response to planes from other nations. The year before, the QRA was launched three times in response to Russian planes and six in response to other potential threats. The launches have remained fairly consistent over the past four years despite tensions escalating between Moscow and the West after Putin’s all-out attack on Ukraine.

One of the incidents led to an RAF pilot talking about the adrenaline kick he felt when the early morning alert was issued. In August 2023, Typhoon fighters were launched to intercept two Russian long-range maritime patrol bombers as they transited north of the Shetland Islands in Scotland within NATO’s northern air policing areas. Crews at RAF Lossiemouth, one of the RAF’s two QRA stations where pilots are ready to respond within minutes, monitored the Tu-142 Bear-F and Tu-142 Bear-J aircraft, used for reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare, as they passed north of the UK.

The lead RAF Typhoon pilot, who was not named, said at the time: ‘It’s really satisfying to know we’ve been able to make a successful intercept, maintaining the integrity of UK and NATO airspace. ‘When the alarm for a scramble happened in the early hours of the morning, the adrenaline kicked in. ‘Working in tandem with ground control operators, and with air-to-air refuelling from an RAF Voyager, we were able to stay on task until the mission was complete.

‘The target aircraft departed the UK’s area of interest.’. The MoD has said that RAF aircraft are ‘held at continuous high readiness 24/7’ in order to protect UK and NATO airspace. *Top Guns: Inside the RAF, airs tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm. Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk. Arrow MORE: ‘Evasive’ pilot arrested after mystery drone spotted flying near UK military base.