INTERCEPTION Everything youre permitted to know about interception By Captain Robin Evans, Senior Log Contributor here are few ways to interact with military jets at work. Perhaps witnessing a low flyby down route, watching occasional TCAS traffic move in ways defying Normal Law or receiving a new waypoint sidestepping military activity. The alternative, interception by Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) can swiftly occur for multiple reasons, not exclusively pilot action or inaction. In July 2022, a Menorca-bound A320 was intercepted over Spain after a passenger made a perceived security threat on social media prior to boarding. Onboard footage shows an F/A-18 rocking wings beyond the wingtip, passengers asking: Whys it doing that, is it showing off? Two months later, a Cologne-bound Citation lost contact at FL360, the last transmission suggesting pressurisation issues. Shadowed in sequence by French Rafales, German Typhoons and Danish F-16s, no movement was identified onboard. It continued beyond Cologne until engine flame out, descending into the Baltic. In the similar case of the Learjet carrying US golfer Payne Stewart in 1999, several intercepting fighters were unable to see through flight deck windows considered to be opaque with ice. The benchmark case of hypoxic incapacitation through depressurisation is Helios 522 in 2005. Passenger oxygen deployed in the climb at 0614z with the final transmission made six minutes later. The Hellenic Air Force was notified at 0716z and scrambled interceptors at 0805z, arriving on station at 0823z. In half an hour of observation, the interceptor confirmed an unconscious pilot on the flight deck, shadows of dangling cabin hoses and motionless passengers wearing oxygen masks. Alerted by this presence, signals were briefly exchanged with a heroic flight attendant, later found to have a UK CPL. Accessing the flight deck, they made Mayday calls on a long-inactive frequency before fuel starvation. If 2001 raised the ultimate spectre, the 2014 self-hijack of Ethiopian Airlines 702 offered an alternative. Flying Addis Ababa-Rome, one pilot locked the other from the flight deck, diverting to Geneva to claim asylum. Occurring overnight, there was no Swiss QRA available, the Italians and French obliging on their behalf. Swiss QRA, labelled by the media armed and dangerous, but only in office hours, was subsequently extended to 24/7 in 2021. Geopolitics Beyond the various civilian causes, QRA has strong military pedigree the modern descendant of fighter boys in sheepskin jackets sprinting across a grassy dispersal to the scramble bell in 1940. In Cold War context, nuclear bombers in an offensive role replaced fighters in a defensive one. QRA is provided by many other nations, the Typhoon or F-16 the most likely European interceptors. The Dutch and Norwegians will dispatch an F-35, Hungary and the Czech Republic favouring the Gripen, with the Polish retaining a few MiG-29s. All also rotate through the Baltic Air Policing of Natos Eastern Front, now running for 20 years since Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined Nato. Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and its heavily militarised exclave Kaliningrad (an FIR unavailable in Ops Manuals) refocussed Nato attention on the region. This dynamic has only intensified since the invasion of Ukraine, Finland joining Nato in 2023 and Swedens application under review. These are sensitive skies: Nato jets on three to four-month detachments escorting opposition non-squawkers, not necessarily fast jets or bombers. During their 2023 deployment from mari, Estonia, RAF Typhoons intercepted 50 Russian aircraft, 21 within a three-week period. If unusual, shared policing is not unprecedented. Significant in North Atlantic geopolitics, both Iceland and Ireland are without their own QRA, policed by Nato agreement. Albania, Slovenia and Luxembourg have similar agreements. Though UK sovereign airspace extends 12 miles from our coastline, far smaller than FIR boundaries, a wider sphere of area of interest applies. Long-range Russian military aircraft (typically Tu-95 Bear or Tu-160 Blackjack bombers) routinely appear in the UK area of interest, particularly the North Atlantic. Silent and invisible without flight plan or transponder, the classic probing of boundaries and responses while sweeping for ELINT (electronic intelligence) is typically greater during Nato exercises when electromagnetic yields are richer. An equivalent, if less confrontational, role is carried out by Natos own RC-135W Rivet Joint fleet. Nations have good motivation for intercepting unknowns before sovereign borders creating time to relay intelligence to decision-makers, demonstrate intent and capability and preserve FIR integrity for legitimate traffic. QRA will be scrambled to identify and shadow providing a deconfliction radar signature, as in the May 2023 escort of a maritime Tu-142 Bear over the North Atlantic by collaborating British and Norwegian aircraft. Former Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, said: These Russian bombers are relics of the Cold War, do not comply with international air traffic regulations and are a hazard to civilian and military aircraft the Royal Air Force and our allies continue to ensure Russian military flights pose no threat to Nato and UK airspace. Command chain READ MORE What is Due Regard? READ MORE UK flight safety Typhoon pairs wait in permanent readiness at RAF Lossiemouth and Coningsby, QRA North and South, for policing the UKs area of interest. Pilots are rostered a 24-hour Q duty once or twice a month, fully dressed in the Q Shed with aircraft powered up by external switch, or stood up to in-jet readiness. About 8,000 aircraft enter UK airspace daily, either overflying or touching UK soil. All are visible to the Control & Reporting Centre (CRC) at RAF Boulmer, Northumberland, constantly watching for unusual or undeclared activity, principally silent Russian aircraft or incommunicative, potential security threats. Were using ground-based military and civilian radars to monitor, detect and identify all aircraft in and around UK airspace, 24/7, 365 days a year. We call this the Recognised Air Picture, says one air operations officer. Any target of interest is immediately flagged to a secure bunker outside High Wycombe, the top of the military chain protecting UK skies. Originally built by RAF Bomber Command before World War Two, four underground floors sit behind multiple blast doors. The bunkers heart is the National Air & Space Operations Centre (NASOC) connected to the police counter-terrorism unit and DfT. There is also a direct red phone to Downing Street, answered with the single word London. First notification of a silent commercial flight would come from Swanwick, or issued to Swanwick by a European neighbour. One of few nations with the feature, the embedded military unit at Swanwick liaises with the CRC, which assumes control and attempts to identify the aircraft. Escalating calls would be made by London Centre: I am instructed by the Ministry of Defence on behalf of His Majestys Government to offer assistance where appropriate [clearance instructions] acknowledge. The CRC will make the scramble call to the relevant QRA base with a Voyager from Brize Norton, historically a Tansor/Tartan callsign, also available. The first sign is often public observation of an approved sonic boom, as in the January 2021 response to a German-flagged Global Express with radio problems. It was escorted anti-clockwise around London into Stansted, also the response to a Lauda A320 in August 2020 for the arrest of individuals relating to a security threat. The sooner interceptors arrive, the more information can be relayed and time bought for decisions. The Tango Scramble is regularly practised, if not notified, using genuine tactical callsigns and Nato air police squawks. A Dassault Falcon of Draken electronic warfare contractor often plays the target role, flying out to a given location to turn around and await interception. First contact The MoD seldom discloses interception data, but in 2020 stated that from 2015-2019 there were an average 10.6 days annually when QRA launches were made, about half against Russian aircraft. I have conducted more than five operational scrambles and numerous training events, says a currently serving RAF Squadron Leader, operating on QRA since 2016. They offer the following for fellow aviators: Prevention is better than cure! Listen out on Guard and ensure a timely check-in when entering the FIR. Many false alarms are raised due to lack of comms. Given the stress factor, what are the most appropriate actions of an intercepted crew, secure or otherwise? ICAO governs procedures to be followed in the event of an interception; individual nations define their own policies, but should be broadly similar. ICAO offers little training but check your ops manuals. Given the variable and likely still unknown cause, interceptor(s) can be expected to approach discreetly. If a pair, the lead will advance on the left to abeam the flight deck, with the second overseeing above and behind. Expect to be called on Guard with your registration by a QRA callsign similar to Rigid 9 or Vulture 2. The transmission will be very strong and delivered through an oxygen mask. You should be given clear instructions on what to do, says the squadron leader. Where possible, you will be directed to a discrete frequency to free up Guard. The main thing is to be as compliant as possible and report facts, rather than interpretation of facts, when responding to questions. We must be very careful when relaying information as this will be used to make decisions on the ground. We are cognisant that few airline crews will have experience of formation flying. We would benefit from benign, predictable manoeuvring when we escort you. A call of, for instance, Commencing descent and turning left onto north now, would be immensely helpful. If we temporarily glance heads-in, we might not spot a manoeuvre immediately. Without response, the lead will issue escalating warnings: rocking wings, gesturing turn-and-follow, and sharp rolls revealing underslung hardware or firing flares. With final approval at Prime Minister or deputising senior minister level, a Typhoon made the following, final verbal order to a silent Latvian aircraft approaching London in October 2014. Im instructed by Her Majestys Government of the United Kingdom to warn you that if you do not immediately respond to my orders you will be shot down. In this case, the aircraft responded and was escorted to Stansted. Consider also what will happen after landing as, depending on circumstances, the regular destination and handling may be unavailable. BALPAs QRA source adds: I imagine deciding what to tell your passengers is a tricky one to manage, too. Unwelcome precedent May 2021 added a further dimension to unlawful interference with the premeditated hijack of a Lithuania-bound 737 from Athens. Belarussian ATC issued a security threat it attributed to Hamas, summoning a MiG-29 for communication. The flight diverted to Minsk for the arrest of two passengers, one an activist and journalist, released two years later. Condemned by ICAO, the act was uniformly described by Western nations as an assault on civil aviation and state-sponsored coercion. A QRA Typhoon of XI Squadron, RAF Coningsby, escorts a Russian Bear over the North Atlantic READ MORE WHAT IS DUE REGARD? Few pilots or Ops Manuals will be aware of Due Regard. The Chicago Convention defines: States undertake, when issuing regulations for state [customs, police and military] aircraft that they will have due regard for the safety of navigation of civil aircraft. This is not physical airspace, only an undertaking by crewed or RPAS flights, potentially without flight planning or ATC notification, to avoid others unaware of their presence by a minimum of 500. It will not be NOTAMd and may conflict with any portion of a route. If ATC notify you are in Due Regard airspace, you have done nothing wrong they are advising vigilance, particularly monitoring Guard and using lights at night. Deconfliction may also be facilitated by participating AWACS. References: See the accompanying pilot story, specifically its causes, timescale and challenges of ATC liaison once intercepted. QRA is classified, this piece integrating details either previously released or specifically approved under OPSEC. READ MORE UK FLIGHT SAFETY See UK Flight Safety Committee procedures for dealing with airborne security events ukfsc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/public_pdfs/ Security-UK-Procedures-for-dealing-with-airbrnesecurity-events-June-2011.pdf