Two RAF pilots reported incidents with unidentified drones this year, just days apart, according to reports by the Telegraph. The incidents were reported to police, and several external investigations are understood to be underway.
The encounters come as fears mount over hostile powers using drones to spy on the West. Unidentified drones were also spotted weeks later at Fort McNair, a military outpost in Washington DC where senior US government officials live, while drones over US air bases in Norfolk and Suffolk were linked to a Russian ship stationed off the coast.
February incidents off the UK coast
The first incident occurred on February 18, when an RAF Airbus Voyager tanker was refuelling a Typhoon fighter jet off Cromer, Norfolk. The unidentified object was seen at 17,000ft, more than 40 times the legal height limit for commercial drones. It passed so close to the tanker that its pilot instinctively ducked.
The second incident occurred on February 23, when a Typhoon was practising dogfights with another jet about 30 miles off Humberside. Its pilot spotted a black circular object, similar in size to a car tyre, pass overhead. The object was said to have passed around 300ft above the Typhoon. Drones are barred from flying higher than 400 feet.
No evidence of hostile link
Though there is no evidence linking the sightings to hostile powers, the drones were operating at an altitude far above levels reachable by most commercially available craft. Any private drone operator entering the RAF's training areas off the east coast would have to obtain prior permission from military authorities first. Neither of the drones showed up on radar.
The Kremlin has previously been accused of waging a drone surveillance campaign over military bases in the UK and Europe. A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the drone campaign occurred between August 2024 and February 2026. It determined that the drones were likely to have been launched from the Kremlin's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers transporting sanctioned fuel.
The report found that Russian intelligence had waged the drone campaign "with substantial impunity... representing both a series of tactical successes for the Kremlin and a strategic failure of allied air defence".
