The aircraft were tracked heading towards the north west coast of Scotland, prompting the air force to deploy three pairs of Typhoons from its Quick Reaction Alert programme. Two pairs of Tornadoes were dispatched from RAF Lossiemouth close to Moray in north-east Scotland, while the third flew from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Flying in formation, two pairs approached the aircraft before withdrawing, while the third pair finished the job of forcing them to change course.

A Voyager tanker, the air-to-air refuelling aircraft, from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, was also deployed to support the mission.

The unidentified aircraft were later revealed to be Tupolev Tu-95 Bears, a Russian aircraft used both as strategic bombers and long-range maritime patrol planes.

The total number of Russian aircraft involved in the incident has not been revealed.

An RAF spokesman said: “This was a routine response to Russian aircraft approaching UK air space and was coordinated with several other Nato allies.”

RAF Lossiemouth tweeted: “At no point did these aircraft enter UK sovereign airspace.

“The Russian aircraft were shadowed by our Typhoons, along with Quick Reaction Alert aircraft from our NATO partners in Norway and France.

“We are ready to respond to any unidentified aircraft and potential airborne threats, 24/7/365.”

In April last year, Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth were scrambled twice in five days to prevent Russian military planes entering UK airspace.

During the same period, jets from RAF Coningsby were also deployed to a separate incident involving Russian aircraft.

Last summer, RAF fighter jets were deployed several times to see off Russian planes encroaching on Estonian airspace.

At the time, RAF personnel had been participating in Operation Azotize, a four-month deployment in the Baltic country, to support the Nato Baltic Air Policing mission.

Russia frequently uses its warplanes to intimidate smaller countries and test the strength of their response.

More Nato fighter jets are being scrambled to monitor and intercept Russian planes than at any time since the end of the Cold War as tensions continue to rise.

Around 780 deployments were made from European military bases last year in response to Russian aircraft, compared to just 410 in 2015.

British planes have been scrambled in numerous operations involving the RAF, which has pilots in the Quick Reaction Alert force ready to launch 24-hours a day.

Incidents have seen Russian bomber planes approach the UK several times, including when Blackjack bombers spent more than five hours skirting British airspace in February.

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Russian planes are not known to have violated international regulations or entered any EU nation’s sovereign airspace, flying instead into “identification zones” in international airspace that are monitored for security.

A typical response sees fighter jets launched by the nearest country to visually identify the foreign aircraft and ascertain whether it is a threat, frequently flying alongside until the Russian plane breaks away and turns back.

A further 90 alerts were sparked by non-Russian planes in 2016, such as commercial flights that lost contact with air traffic control, according to officials at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where the US Air Forces in Europe are headquartered.

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