In a new incident involving the armed forces of France and Russia, it was reported that one of the latest deployments of ATL2 maritime patrol aircraft by the French Navy was targeted by a Russian fire control system while conducting a surveillance and patrol flight over the Baltic Sea. This latest development adds to the growing list of incidents involving the military forces of both countries, bearing similarities to the episode denounced by the French government this past January, when an Atlantic was also targeted by an S-400 air defense system.
On March 19, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the French Armed Forces reported that one of the ATL2 aircraft operated by the French Navy was targeted by a Russian fire control system during a new patrol flight over the Baltic.
In this regard, the statement indicated that the aircraft was monitoring critical underwater infrastructure in the region — presumably submarine cables — and was flying over international waters when alert systems confirmed that it was being targeted and tracked by a fire control system.
French authorities have held the Russian Armed Forces responsible for the incident, stating that this “…intimidation is part of unnecessarily aggressive actions that hinder freedom of navigation.”
This incident bears strong similarities to the one that occurred on January 17, when France’s Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu, denounced that one of the Russian Armed Forces’ modern long-range S-400 air defense systems, deployed in the region, had used its fire control system to target an ATL2 aircraft.
Currently, this class of system is among the most capable and powerful systems deployed by Russia for strategic defense and deterrence from Kaliningrad. The enclave is of vital importance to Moscow, providing a year-round access point to the sea for the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet.
However, unlike the January incident, no further details about this recent event have been disclosed to the public, though it is speculated that once again an S-400 system carried out similar actions against the French surveillance and patrol aircraft.
Lastly, it should be noted that this episode adds to a growing list of incidents involving Russian and French armed forces personnel and assets. Following the January event, French Rafale fighters intercepted Russian signals intelligence aircraft, and a similar episode occurred involving a Russian Su-35 and a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper UCAV over the eastern Mediterranean — just to mention a few notable cases between mid-January and early March.
Photos used for illustration purposes only.
You may also like: F-47: The U.S. Air Force’s response to the challenge of China’s new Sixth-Generation fighter jets
