Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the regularity of incursions into UK airspace by foreign jets; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning

The airspace around and approaching the UK is permanently monitored on a 24 hour basis. There have been no unauthorised incursions by any foreign military aircraft into sovereign air space around the UK, which projects 12 miles off shore or to mutually agreed mid-points between adjacent nations over narrow straits such as the Straits of Dover. The UK civil air traffic region and the NATO Air Policing Area, which the UK has responsibility for monitoring, include large areas of international airspace through which foreign military traffic may legally transit.