On 15 December the RAF and French Air forces carried out a joint intercept exercise, scrambling both countries’ Quick Reaction Alerts (QRA).

Typhoons from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire linked up with Armée de l’Air Rafale aircraft to intercept a simulated non-NATO military aircraft entering the UK Airspace. The key objective of the scramble was to exercise and practice NATO Long Range Aviation procedures within the UK and French Flight Information Regions (FIR) and develop the tactical co-ordination involved with international cross-FIR border operations.