On Wednesday the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet scrambled a MiG-31 fighter jet to intercept a Norwegian Air Force P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft over the neutral waters of the Barents Sea when the alleged spy plane approached Russia’s state border. 

“A MiG-31 fighter of the Northern Fleet’s air defense quick reaction alert forces was scrambled to identify the air target and prevent it from violating Russia’s state border,” Russia’s National Defense Control Center told state media. “The Russian fighter’s crew approached the air object at a safe distance and identified it as a Norwegian Air Force P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.”

The National Defense Control Center added that the Norwegian P-3C was not allowed to “violate” the state border, and said that the fighter’s entire flight proceeded in strict compliance with the international rules of using airspace. 

“After the foreign military plane moved away from Russia’s state border, the Russian fighter safely returned to its home airfield,” explained the center. 

Take Notice of the MiG-31 

The Mikoyan MiG-31 is a Cold War-era fighter that was designed as a home-defense interceptor. Codenamed “Foxhound” by NATO, the aircraft has maintained a certain mystique in the west, in part because there remains much speculation over all of its capabilities.  

The aircraft was never exported by the Soviet Union, and while Syria had reportedly ordered eight of the MiG-31E aircraft in 2007 the order was suspended due to Israeli pressure along with a lack of Syrian funds. Turkish news media has reported that six of the aircraft may have been delivered for use by the Syrian Arab Air Force, but Russia has denied that it sold the aircraft to Syria. 

During the late Cold War a MiG-31 may have been used to chase after the U.S. military’s SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and reportedly locked on with its missiles, but as the American reconnaissance aircraft was never employed to actually overfly Soviet airspace, whether the incident occurred is a matter of conjecture at best. 

More recently it has been reported that the Russian military has sought to upgrade the MiG-31 and has explored the option of arming the home-defense interceptor with hypersonic missiles, which would make the airframe a very serious threat. Despite the fact that the aircraft dates back to the 1970s, Russia has an established trend of preserving original aircraft designs by integrating modern weapons and avionics and this has resulted in the MiG-31BM upgrade from a decade ago.  

Spy Vs. Spy 

This week’s incident involving the alleged Norwegian spy aircraft and Russia is just the latest in an ongoing series of accusations involving such routine flights. Last week a Russian Su-27 fighter intercepted two U.S. surveillance planes near Russia’s Black Sea coast. 

It was reportedly the sixth such incident in that region in just the prior four weeks and followed a similar foray earlier in the day farther north off the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The use of spy planes is not really all that unusual as it remains an effective way to test radar defenses of potential U.S. adversaries. 

Russia has claimed that foreign “spy planes” flew near its border thirty times in a single week in June, and while that number seems high it does seem both sides have increased their reconnaissance operations. Whether such flights actually result in actual intelligence are necessary remains a question—especially given that satellites and even Google maps can zoom in quite well. So whether this is dangerous saber-rattling or necessary missions, it is likely these close encounters in the waters around Russia will continue. 

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com. 

Image: Reuters