Black objects, no radar trace: Mystery flyers spook British jets

Two RAF jets reported near-misses with unidentified objects flying at up to 17,000 feet over the North Sea, with neither object detected on radar, according to incident reports reviewed by The Telegraph.According to The Telegraph, an RAF Voyager tanker encountered the first unidentified object on February 18 while refuelling a Typhoon fighter jet off Cromer, Norfolk, at an altitude of 17,000 feet. The pilot reported that the object passed approximately 100 to 150 feet above the tanker.The Voyager's pilot told the RAF radar controller that the small, black object had travelled east to west directly overhead. The controller said he could not see it on radar.

In a subsequent report, the pilot said the object's proximity had made him instinctively duck.The second incident occurred on February 23, when an RAF Typhoon pilot spotted a black, circular object, described as similar in size to a car tyre, passing approximately 300 feet above his aircraft during simulated dogfight training off Humberside, at around 12,000 to 12,500 feet.The Typhoon pilot reported the sighting to the radar controller, who subsequently referred the incident to North Yorkshire Police.

The incident report said the object was not detected on radar, while the RAF concluded that the pilots had acted appropriately.The first object’s reported altitude was 17,000 feet, 42.5 times the usual 400-foot height limit for civilian drones in the UK. However, the Voyager pilot later said he could not positively identify the object as a drone and acknowledged it could have been a balloon or something similar.Russia suspected of using shadow fleet for drone surveillanceThe sightings come amid allegations that Russia has used its so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers to support drone surveillance operations across Europe.A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), published in July 2026, assessed that the Kremlin had very likely conducted a coordinated drone campaign across European countries between August 2024 and February 2026, with Russian-linked vessels likely serving as launch and recovery platforms.The IISS report examined 144 suspected drone incidents across 13 Nato countries and Ireland, including sightings near military installations and critical infrastructure. It said the suspected campaign could have been aimed at gathering intelligence, testing air defence responses and identifying vulnerabilities around sensitive sites.The report also linked suspected drone activity near British military installations, including RAF Lakenheath and RAF Fairford, to the broader pattern of surveillance incidents across Europe.