Czech fighter jets break sound barrier pursuing aircraft off Estonian coast
Two fighter jets broke the sound barrier on Monday in pursuit of an aircraft seen flying off the coast of northwestern Estonia. The noise from the supersonic flight worried local residents in the area.
This afternoon, two Czech JAS-39 fighter jets based at the Šiauliai airbase as part of the NATO Air Police mission in Lithuania took off for a supersonic reconnaissance flight over the Baltic Sea, the Ministry of Defense headquarters said.
"The supersonic flight was necessary in order to reach and identify another aircraft and to resume defending the airspace. As a consequence, in the northwestern part of Estonia a powerful explosion-like sound was audible this afternoon."
Air Force spokesman Siim Verner Teder told ERR in relation to this incident an official border violation procedure has been initiated, but no other information can be given while the investigation is ongoing.
The explosion-like noise was so powerful it rattled the windows in the nearby residential area and was followed by an air blast, residents wrote on social media and to ERR.
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Editor: Kristina Kersa
