Norwegian Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets scrambled on two consecutive days to intercept and identify Russian military aircraft flying in international airspace off the coast of Finnmark. This was reported by the Norwegian Armed Forces, Forsvaret.
Such activity was recorded on both Wednesday and Tuesday amid the large-scale military exercises Cold Response 2026 currently taking place in northern Norway. In both cases, the aircraft involved were Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance and surveillance planes. Although the flights were conducted in international airspace, the Russian aircraft were flying with their transponders switched off, which required an оперативе response from the Norwegian Air Force.
On Wednesday morning, at about 09:30, Norwegian sensors detected a Russian Il-20M. Two F-35 fighters then took off from Evenes Air Station on quick reaction alert. They located and escorted the Russian reconnaissance aircraft along the coast. The plane flew as far as Vesterålen, then turned south, reaching the southern tip of the Lofoten Islands, and made two more passes before returning to the Kola Peninsula at around 13:30.
A similar incident occurred on Tuesday morning, when another Il-20M was identified by Norwegian fighters off the coast of Finnmark. The aircraft then turned north near the island of Sørøya and left the monitoring zone around noon.
The Norwegian Armed Forces stress that there is nothing dramatic about such flights, as Russia has the right to conduct missions in international airspace. Most likely, the purpose of the Russian aircraft is to collect information about the presence of allied forces during the current exercises.
Nevertheless, for NATO it is extremely important to detect and identify such targets in order to understand the overall situation and frequency of flights, as well as to demonstrate control over air traffic in the region. These missions are carried out under the Quick Reaction Alert readiness system, and Norwegian pilots participate in around 40 such operations each year.
