F-35 fighters from the Royal Netherlands Air Force intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them away, the Dutch Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Dutch planes were part of the NATO Air Policing mission which monitors Central and Eastern Europe airspace.
According to a tweet by the Dutch Defense Ministry, the intercepted aircraft were a Russian IL-20M Coot-A reconnaissance plane and two escorting Su-27 'Flankers.'
Polish media is reporting the incident took place near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in international airspace.
Lieutenant Colonel Guido Schols, the commander of the Netherlands' F-35 detachment which is stationed in Poland, was quoted by the ministry as saying that Polish airspace is protected 24 hours a day seven days a week.
The Il-20M Coot-A is Nato's reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are Nato's reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-28 fighter aircraft.
he Il-20M (ASCC name Coot A) was designed for intelligence gathering with its distinguishing features being the Igla-1 phased-array SLAR (Side-Looking Airborne Radar) pod under the forward fuselage, housings for A-87P LOROP cameras and the Romb 4 sigint system. Two antennas also protrude from the top of the fuselage for the Vishnaya communications intelligence gathering system.
OOOPS! Poland Changes its story . . .
They are changing their story a little bit now...
"Poland's Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on Monday to intercept three Russian aircraft.
"Dutch F-35s stationed at the 22nd Tactical Air Base in Malbork were scrambled on Monday (February 13) in order to identify and intercept 3 Russian aircraft that were operating near Polish airspace," the Polish Defense Ministry said in a statement sent to CNN on Tuesday.
The defense ministry said that the F-35 fighters were operating over international waters and Polish airspace was not violated."
