See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy BRENDAN CARLIN Published: 22:05 BST, 23 May 2026 | Updated: 01:47 BST, 24 May 2026
RAF surveillance flights over the Black Sea appear to have been suspended in the wake of Russian warplanes flying 'dangerously' close to a British spy plane last month.Publicly available flight-tracking data reveals that no RAF Rivet Joint Surveillance aircraft have flown over the region since April 21.That's despite Defence Secretary John Healey vowing that the UK would not be deterred by last month's 'dangerous and unacceptable behaviour by Russian pilots towards an unarmed aircraft operating in international airspace'.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) disclosed last week that a Russian SU-35 fighter had flown so close to an unarmed RAF Rivet Joint surveillance plane in international air space over the Black Sea that it had triggered its emergency systems and disabled its autopilot.And a SU-27 jet carried out six passes of the RAF plane, getting as close as 19 feet from its nose.Now open-source flight tracking data shows that no Rivet Joint spy aircraft, which typically has a crew of up to 30, has returned to the Black Sea for the last five weeks.Military sources told the Mail on Sunday that the RAF spy planes do not routinely switch off their transponders when in international air space and so can be publicly tracked on the basis that the UK wants the Russians to know it is watching them.The sources added that normally, Rivet Joints would make two visits a week to the region. A Russian SU-35 aircraft which flew 'dangerously' close to a British aircraft over the Black Sea in April
