What Happened
NATO Cold Response Exercise Sparks Increased Air Activity
Norwegian F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on March 10 and March 11, 2026, to identify Russian military aircraft flying in international airspace off Finnmark, as NATO’s Cold Response 2026 exercise gets underway in the High North. The Norwegian Armed Forces said both missions involved an Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft, known by NATO as the Coot-A. The F-35s shadowed the aircraft before it returned to the Kola Peninsula. The incident was reported by AeroTime.