<p >The British Royal Air Force deployed two Eurofighter jets from Malbork Airbase in Northern Poland to intercept a Russian Il-20M intelligence surveillance aircraft, after it reportedly approached NATO airspace near the northeastern boundary of Polish Airspace. The incident occurred on May 24, and was first reported three days later. The British fighters were forward deployed in Poland as part of Operation Chessman, responded under NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission. The Il-20M is among Russia’s most capable surveillance aircraft, and integrates a comprehensive suites for signals intelligence, communications intelligence and electronic intelligence, as well as a side-looking radar, long-range surveillance optics, infrared sensors, and passive sensor antenna arrays intended to capture radar emissions and various kinds of communications. The aircraft have frequently been deployed from the Russian Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland, or from elsewhere in Northern Russia. <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-su35-repel-tanker-sea" target="_blank">Incidents between</a> NATO and Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea have been frequent over the past three years, coinciding with high tensions in the Ukrainian theatre.&nbsp;</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/28/article_68366b6d835177_55004158.jpg" title="British Eurofighter Takes Off at RAF Akrotiri"></p><p >The British Eurofighter involved in the engagement was modernised to the Typhoon FGR4 standard, which was developed under an upgrade package developed in 2006 to provide compatibility with the GBU-16 Paveway II bomber and Litening III laser designator. These aircraft are considered obsolete today, primarily due to their continued reliance on the Captor mechanically scanned array radar. The Eurofighter and Swedish Gripen were the last fighter programs to be produced with such radar types, with the Soviet Union having operated tactical combat jets with phased array radars in 1981, follows by the United States in 2000, France in 2001, and Japan in 2002. Mechanically scanned array radars are not only considerably less efficient, but are also very limited in their electronic warfare capabilities and are considered relatively straightforward to jam using modern electronic warfare suites. The relatively small size of the radar the Eurofighter can carry further exacerbates the issue. The British Royal Air Force has been left more heavily reliant on Eurofighters with these ageing sensor suites than had initially been expected, largely due to delays to plans to operate F-35B fifth generation fighters.</p>
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