Two Royal Air Force aircraft were passed at close range over the North Sea in February by objects their crews could not identify. On 18 February a small, black, circular object went 100 to 150 feet directly over an Airbus Voyager tanker that was refuelling a Typhoon. Five days later a Typhoon pilot saw a black, circular object the size of a car tyre pass about 300 feet above his jet. The UK Airprox Board assessed both reports and in neither case could it determine what the object was1. The Telegraph made the incidents public in mid October, based on incident logs and radio recordings2.

18 February: Voyager during air-to-air refuelling

The Voyager was at FL160 at 1015 UTC, about 32 nautical miles north-northeast of Cromer on the Norfolk coast, in Class G airspace and in good visual conditions, with a Typhoon in tow. The pilot in the captain's seat, who was the non-handling pilot at the time, caught something directly ahead and had it in sight for only a few seconds: a black, circular object passing about 100 to 150 feet directly above the Voyager. "The proximity was such that it made them instinctively duck", the report says1. Nobody else on the flight deck saw it, but one of the Typhoon pilots did and agreed with the description, direction and clearance1.

The crew reported it to Swanwick military controllers as a possible drone. The controller had nothing on radar, noted the coordinates, which were passed straight to the Distress and Diversion cell, and warned another formation that was joining the tanker1. According to The Telegraph, the captain told the controller: "Uh yeah, just had something go overhead of us, potential drone at one seven zero, have you got anything on your screen?" The newspaper therefore gives an altitude of 17,000 feet; the Airprox report records FL160 within a reserved block of FL140 to FL17021. Afterwards the pilot wrote that it was "impossible to positively identify" it as a drone and that it could have been a balloon or something similar1. The sortie continued with no further sightings.

23 February: Typhoon in a danger area

The second encounter happened at 1521 UTC in military danger area D323A over the North Sea, off the east coast of England. A Typhoon was flying air combat training against another aircraft and was straight and level at 12,000 feet and 300 knots when the pilot saw a circular black object "similar in size to a car tyre" pass directly above, an estimated 300 feet higher and tracking east1. The pilot manoeuvred away from the area and reported the Airprox to Swanwick a few minutes later, telling the controller 200 feet and an own altitude of 12,500 feet1. According to The Telegraph, the controller reported the incident to North Yorkshire Police, and a local investigation found no causal factors because the Airprox happened off frequency and the object did not show on radar2.

What the authorities say

The UK Airprox Board assessed both reports at its meeting on 22 April 2026 and classed them as unknown objects, not drones: in the Board's opinion the description was not enough to determine what they were1. The Voyager encounter was rated risk category B, meaning safety had not been assured. The Typhoon encounter was rated category C: safety had been reduced but there was no risk of collision14. The pilots themselves had rated the risk of collision as medium (Voyager) and high (Typhoon)1. An analysis by the military air traffic management unit said the controller in the first case showed a good duty of care by warning other pilots in the area straight away1. The Telegraph reports that the RAF concluded both pilots acted appropriately and that several external investigations are ongoing2.

The UK Ministry of Defence did not comment on the two incidents directly. A spokesperson told The Telegraph that defence remains vigilant and that "reports of drones sightings are not necessarily hostile". Where activity poses a credible threat, defence has measures available to respond, the spokesperson said, adding that the ministry does not comment on specific threat assessments2. The newspaper notes there is no evidence linking the sightings to a hostile state2.

What an Airprox is and how to report one

An Airprox is a situation in which, in the opinion of a pilot or controller, the distance between aircraft, their relative positions and their speed were such that the safety of the aircraft involved may have been compromised5. It is a judgement by the people involved, not a fixed separation figure. In the United Kingdom the procedures are in the UK AIP at ENR 1.14: report the Airprox on the radio to the controlling agency as soon as you can, then file the written report. Civil pilots use the UK Airprox Board's online form; military pilots and controllers file a Defence Air Safety Occurrence Report (DASOR) within 24 hours65. The Board reviews every report, sets out the contributory factors and assigns a risk category from A (serious risk of collision) to E (normal procedures and margins applied)4.

In the European Union, a near collision with a drone, balloon or unknown object falls under the mandatory occurrence reporting rules of Regulation (EU) 376/2014. Tell ATC first so other traffic can be warned, then file an occurrence report with your operator or the national authority7. Write down the time, position, altitude, heading, estimated distance, and the object's colour, shape, size and direction of travel as soon as you safely can. Those details decide later whether an object is classed as a drone or as unknown3.

Why an object does not show on radar

That controllers saw nothing is normal for objects this small. Secondary surveillance radar only sees aircraft with a transponder that replies; a drone, balloon or other small object without one does not exist for that system. Primary radar works on reflected energy, but a small object made of plastic or rubber returns very little. Radar processing also filters out small and slow returns to keep the display clear of birds, rain and other clutter. An object the size of a car tyre can therefore pass close to a large aircraft without the controller seeing it. In another report the Board assessed at the same meeting, a drone sighting on the approach to Heathrow, the radar analysis also found no associated primary or secondary contacts1.

Drones, balloons and unknown objects in the statistics

The UK Airprox Board sorts reports of small unmanned objects into four groups: drones, balloons (from toy balloons to weather and research balloons), model aircraft and unknown objects3. Because these encounters usually last only seconds, the classification depends heavily on the reporter's wording. If a pilot describes something with clear drone features, such as four rotors, the Board counts it as a drone; if the pilot can only describe "an object", it becomes an unknown object3. The Board itself acknowledges that some unknown objects were probably drones, and the other way round3.

At the 22 April meeting the Board assessed four such reports: besides the two RAF encounters, two drones near Heathrow, one of which passed within the wingspan of a Boeing 787 on short final and was rated the highest risk category, A1. For comparison, drones in the UK open category may not fly above 400 feet. If the object on 18 February was a drone, it was flying about forty times higher than that limit12.