French Rafale intercepts Russian Tu-214 tied to FSB leadership

The French Air and Space Force released a summary of its four-month deployment to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, including a photograph of a Rafale fighter intercepting a Russian Tupolev Tu-214 over the Baltic Sea.

The French service, known as the Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace, posted the recap on X, crediting the detachment with 540 flight hours, 39 Alpha Scrambles and 69 Tango Scrambles between April 1 and July 31. Alpha Scrambles are real-world alerts launched to identify unknown aircraft. Tango Scrambles are training intercepts.

Aviation journalist Piotr Butowski identified the intercepted aircraft in the photo as carrying an LSZ-100 laser self-defense system.

“A Tu-214, intercepted by the French over the Baltic Sea, has an LSZ-100 laser self-defence system (follow the arrow). If my notes are correct, this RA-64534 is the one the FSB leadership is using. The LSZ-100 and LSZ-200 systems are also on the Il-96-300s flown by Putin,” Butowski wrote.

Flight-tracking and aircraft registry records identify RA-64534 as a Tu-214PU variant operated by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB. The Tu-214PU is a command and communications configuration of the airliner used to transport senior Russian officials.

France’s contribution ran under the 71st Baltic Air Policing mandate, its 12th participation in the mission since 2007, according to the French Ministry of Armed Forces. Four twin-seat Rafale B jets from Saint-Dizier Air Base flew the first two months, from April 1 to May 31. Four single-seat Rafale C jets from Mont-de-Marsan Air Base took over for the remainder, through July 31. Roughly 200 airmen rotated through the deployment at Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania.

The detachment also covered air surveillance along Poland’s eastern border against unauthorized drone or missile incursions, the ministry said. Crews trained alongside Estonian and Lithuanian air forces on drone detection and interception, and most Rafale C training missions included at least one partner nation, principally Romania and Poland.

The deployment’s most significant event came on June 8, when a French Rafale C shot down a suspected Ukrainian attack drone over Latvia. Captain Josselin, who fired the shot, was on his first overseas operation and his first real-world Alpha Scramble. He and Lieutenant Colonel Romain later received Latvia’s Atzinības Goda Zīme honor from Latvian Defense Minister Raivis Melnis for the intercept.

The French detachment operated on alternating alert postures, the ministry said, with “hot” weeks requiring a 15-minute launch capability and “cold” weeks allowing a three-hour response window.

The Baltic Air Policing mission has tracked a sharp rise in Russian military air activity along NATO’s eastern flank. NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Brunssum reported a 250 percent increase in scramble launches for enhanced Air Policing missions between July 2025 and July 2026, compared with the previous 12-month period.

France’s Rafales left Lithuania on August 1 and were relieved by four Eurofighter EF2000s from Italy’s Aeronautica Militare. The French Ministry of Armed Forces has not disclosed further detail on the specific circumstances of the Tu-214 intercept shown in the recap photo, including the date or the aircraft’s flight route.