Civilian planes over Britain at risk from Russian jets 'playing chicken'

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Civilian planes flying over British airspace are at risk from Russian jets playing a highly dangerous "game of chicken" in the skies, a former head of the armed forces has warned.

Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup, a former chief of the defence staff, said that recent flights by Russian long-range Bear bombers off Bournemouth and the coast of Cornwall were part of a strategy to probe UK defences. But he warned that the new levels of activity posed a risk, not just to the RAF planes sent to intercept them but also to civilian air traffic.

"They are becoming more aggressive," he told Sky News. "These aircraft - Russian Bears, for example - are not going on these flights simply as joy rides. They are mission rehearsals. These aircraft launch stand-off missiles against Western targets and just as they used to do in the Cold War, they are practising those profiles.

"They are testing us, they are testing our defences, they are testing our reactions and they are engaging to a degree in a game of chicken and that's very dangerous."

He added: "We are seeing the possibility of mid-air collision, not between RAF and Russian aircraft, but between Russian aircraft and civilian aircraft increasing." Last month the Foreign Office said Russian bombers flying near UK airspace had caused "disruption to civil aviation" for the first time, leading to the country's ambassador being summoned to explain the situation.

Lord Stirrup said President Putin was "testing" the resolve of Britain and its Nato allies in the stand-off in Ukraine and suggested Britain should now consider supplying arms to the Ukraine government to counter the superior firepower of separatist rebels supplied by Moscow.

"Nato over the years, in the eyes of Putin at least, has become weak," he said. "My concern is that Nato is not spending enough resource on defence." Lord Stirrup, who was head of the armed forces at the time of the 2010 strategic defence and security review, said the "swingeing cuts" to defence spending had left the forces "right on the limit" and needed to be reversed.

The chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, Conservative MP Rory Stewart, said that all the political parties now needed to commit to maintaining the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

- The Independent