The French naval patrol aircraft descended abruptly throughout the clouds, leveling off at 900 toes above the Baltic Sea, almost skimming the waves. The objective was once a Russian warship, which got here into view off the aircraft’s port facet, darkish grey towards a mild grey horizon.The plane, an Atlantique 2 of the French Army, was once designed to seek submarines and different enemy naval craft, however on nowadays its torpedo bay was once empty and its best guns had been a high-resolution digicam and different subtle surveillance tools. The function was once to look at, and be noticed gazing.“We’re to turn that we’re right here,” mentioned Romain, a lieutenant commander and a member of the aircraft’s workforce.By no means absolutely tranquil, the Baltic Sea, with a sea coast closely militarized via Northern Eu and Russian navies, has develop into an increasingly more demanding theater within the battle between Moscow and the West. Later at the patrol, Russian forces tried to jam the aircraft’s GPS, and at one level, some other Russian warship locked directly to the aircraft with radar, a caution that it will open hearth. Russian naval ships and a submarine had been visual within the sea beneath.However the primary explanation why the French naval aircraft was once on patrol lay underwater. 3 times over the last 12 months and a part, business ships are suspected of getting broken vital undersea communications cables and a fuel pipeline within the Baltic Sea. Eu officers worry that those had been acts of sabotage, with the Kremlin seen as the principle suspect, despite the fact that discovering laborious proof has proved tough.
