Two typhoon fighter jets that monitor British airspace for Russian incursions refuelled in mid-air from the prime minister’s RAF Voyager plane off the Norfolk coast, with Theresa May watching the spectacle from the plane’s back seats alongside the crew.
The demonstration took place en route from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as the RAF Voyager plane entered British sovereign airspace, with two Typhoon fighter jets armed with air-to-air missiles.
Downing Street said this was a vital training exercise, though it was also a subtle show of strength given recent strong words on Russian expansionism by the prime minister and foreign secretary on their respective visits to Warsaw and Moscow this week. May agreed to extend the flight time home by an hour in order to allow the refuelling to take place.
The jets slid in just 25 metres from the prime minster’s plane, travelling at 320 miles an hour, as part of a practice quick reaction scramble which has been used several times over the past year to deter Russian jets from entering British airspace.
The pilots, from 11 squadron and 3 squadron, could be seen clearly from the window but No 10 aides said protocol prevented the prime minister from speaking to them over the radio. May watched the process from the cockpit of the plane, where the process was shown on camera, before making her way to the back of the plane to watch. “She looked pretty happy,” one crew member said.
May, who had addressed RAF troops earlier that morning at the British airbase, said she was “delighted to have the opportunity today to see our brave pilots and crew in action refuelling in the air”.
“Witnessing the unique skill of the RAF at first hand is an absolute privilege and once again demonstrates that the British armed forces are the finest in the world,” she said. “The work they do is admirable and impressive and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for everything that they do to keep us safe.”
Aides said the previous few hours of the flight home had been spent less eventfully, with May completing work from her red box of prime ministerial business, as well as the Times2 sudoku and reading crime novel, The Incredible Crime.
