Two Swedish Air Force Gripen fighter jets were scrambled on Midsummer’s Eve to identify a pair of Russian Navy aircraft flying near Swedish airspace, according to a statement from the Swedish Armed Forces.
The incident occurred shortly after 19:00 local time on Friday, as the jets flew over Malmö in southern Sweden. Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan was first to report the event, which quickly drew public attention due to the timing and visibility of the aircraft.
“This was not a training exercise,” said Mikael Ågren, duty press officer at the Swedish Armed Forces. “We identified other aircraft,” he said, confirming that the response was prompted by the detection of two Russian Su-30SM Flanker multi-role fighter jets operating in international airspace over the southern Baltic Sea.
The Swedish military did not confirm whether the Russian aircraft approached Swedish territorial airspace, but Ågren emphasized that similar events occur “fairly often.” According to a bulletin from the TT news agency, the Swedish fighters had returned to the ground by 19:30.
The Su-30SM is a twin-engine multirole fighter aircraft in service with Russia’s naval aviation, capable of long-range operations and often used in intercept and patrol missions over international waters. The fighter jets were armed with Kh-31P (AS-17 Krypton) anti-radiation missiles.
This latest encounter adds to a series of recent air policing missions by Sweden, which has remained on heightened alert amid increasing regional activity by Russian military aircraft since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Swedish Armed Forces did not disclose further operational details, but Ågren confirmed that all actions taken were “within the scope of standard procedure.”