British F-35s fly Nato air policing missions from European carrier for first time
British F-35B Lightning jets have conducted Nato air policing from a European aircraft carrier for the first time during HMS Prince of Wales' deployment to the High North.
Aircraft from 809 Naval Air Squadron flew patrols over Iceland from the Royal Navy flagship, with Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan and RFA Tidespring also deployed as part of the Carrier Strike Group.
Prior to the operation, Nato air policing missions had been conducted by fighters operating from bases on land.
The Carrier Strike Group left Portsmouth on 24 April to begin preparations before sailing from Scotland, bound for Nordic waters in early May.
More than 1,500 British personnel have been deployed across the three vessels.
The group operated in the Norwegian Sea and further north in the Arctic before moving to waters around Iceland for the Nato air-policing mission.
HMS Prince of Wales also made a port visit to Iceland this month, a country located between Greenland and the UK in the maritime corridor between the Arctic and the North Atlantic.
The three-month deployment will come to an end on 24 July, with the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier expected to be back in HMNB Portsmouth at 8.15am.
F-35Bs vs Tupolev Tu-95
During the Norwegian Sea phase of the deployment, two British F-35Bs were scrambled after a Russian Tu-142 Bear F maritime patrol aircraft repeatedly approached the carrier group.
The MOD said the aircraft flew at low altitude close to HMS Prince of Wales and dropped sonobuoys near the carrier.
The Russian aircraft was intercepted and escorted by the British jets until it left the area.
The Tu-142 encounter took place in the Norwegian Sea shortly before the carrier began Nato air-policing operations off Iceland.
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