A Russian \u2018Bear F\u2019 aircraft \u201crepeatedly approached\u201d the HMS Prince of Wales<\/a> aircraft carrier, the Ministry of Defence<\/a> revealed, before dropping a \u201clarge number\u201d of tracking devices<\/a> into the water nearby. <\/p>\n The MoD blasted the activity of the Russian maritime patrol aircraft as \u201cunsafe and unprofessional\u201d. It was intercepted and escorted by two UK F-35 jets until it left the area, it added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile operating in the Norwegian Sea on Operation Firecrest, the UK\u2019s Carrier Strike Group was repeatedly approached by a Russian \u2018Bear-F\u2019 maritime patrol aircraft,\u201d An MoD spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bear-F passed at low altitude and unnecessarily close to HMS Prince of Wales and dropped a large number of sonobuoys in close proximity to the carrier.<\/p>\n \u201cThis activity was unsafe and unprofessional. The Russian aircraft was intercepted and escorted by two UK F-35 jets from HMS Prince of Wales until it left the area.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bear-F, a plane which can be used for reconnaissance or as a bomber, is believed to have dropped tens of sonobuoys into the waters near the Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n Sonobuoys are commonly used as undersea surveillance, which detect, track and deter submarines and other underwater vessels.<\/p>\n HMS Prince of Wales is the largest warship in the Royal Navy, and has led the Carrier Strike Group in its operation in the North Atlantic and High North since it was launched earlier this year.<\/p>\n The Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed off Iceland under Nato command, with 1,500 British personnel on board.<\/p>\n The group consists of HMS Prince of Wales, Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan, F-35 jets, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, and is supported by RFA Tidespring.<\/p>\n The British forces attempted to contact the Russian plane on international frequencies, but it did not respond.<\/p>\n Two F-35 jets then flew from the Prince of Wales to escort the Bear-F away from the Carrier Strike Group.<\/p>\n Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis visited UK forces on board the flagship HMS Prince of Wales over the weekend.<\/p>\n He told Channel 4 News: \u201cWe should be clear-eyed about the fact that the threat from Russia exists in every domain, under the water, on the water, on the land, in the sky, in space and in cyberspace as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Jarvis said \u201csome of what the Americans have said in recent times is absolutely right\u201d, and \u201cEurope does need to step up\u201d.<\/p>\n He also insisted that Andy Burnham, who is all but guaranteed to be the next prime minister, \u201cunderstands the importance of defending our nation\u201d and will make sure \u201cwe\u2019ve got the resources we need to keep the country safe\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,183719,226008,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-676421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pa2026","tag-royal-navy-planes-intercept-a-russian-military-aircraft","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KWV9XXBWYNYHBKVD4FC0C4GE.jpg\")
Royal Navy planes intercept a Russian military aircraft (PA)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-06T090425Z_1431312917_RC2R5MAGBSJ6_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-RUSSIA-BRITAIN.JPG\")
The Bear-F, a plane which can be used for reconnaissance or as a bomber, is believed to have dropped tens of sonobuoys into the waters near the Prince of Wales (MoD\/Crown Copyright)<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KWV9XX5KP0695KRB5GZCQN1G.jpg\")
Two F-35 jets flew from the Prince of Wales to escort the Bear-F away from the Carrier Strike Group (PA)<\/p>\n