RAF pilot ducked as a mystery drone shot overhead at 17,000ft in one of two North Sea near-misses

Neither object registered on radar. The first was detected at an altitude exceeding 40 times the legal ceiling for drones, as it flew past an RAF Voyager tanker that was refuelling a Typhoon off Cromer, Norfolk, on February 18. Five days later, a Typhoon pilot spotted a 'black circular object' approximately the diameter of a car tyre at 300ft below his aircraft off Humberside. Police have been informed and several external investigations are under way.

The tanker pilot radioed: 'Just had something go overhead of us – potential drone.'

Both encounters occurred just days before the start of the US war with Iran.

Drone incidents at MoD sites reached 340 in the year to August 2026.