On Nov. 12, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew a mission into the Baltic region that also coincided with a NATO anti-submarine warfare exercise underway in the Baltic Sea at the same time. At one point, the B-52 was over Estonia, after having flown over southern Sweden and Finland practicing simulated bombing runs with Swedish and Finnish fighter jets. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, flight-tracking data showed the bomber coming within 50 miles of the Russian border.
Flight-tracking data also showed that over Estonia at the same time was an RAF A330 air refueling tanker, a NATO E-3 airborne surveillance aircraft, and a U.S.-contractor-operated Challenger intelligence aircraft; heading southeast over the Baltic Sea was a U.S. RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft which had been circling over southern Finland near the Russian border. At the same time, a Russian Il-76 transport aircraft was transiting from Kaliningrad toward St. Petersburg.
