Aircraft
RAF Sentinel Fleet Completes Last Surveillance Flight
After a relatively brief yet busy and productive career, the RAF’s Sentinel radar reconnaissance aircraft have been retired.
End of the road: Sentinel R.Mk 1 ZJ694 lands at Waddington on February 25 to bring the type’s operational career to a close. (Photo: RAF Waddington)
End of the road: Sentinel R.Mk 1 ZJ694 lands at Waddington on February 25 to bring the type’s operational career to a close. (Photo: RAF Waddington)

The Royal Air Force’s Raytheon Sentinel surveillance fleet completed its final operation on February 25, 2021. The last aircraft flew a mission from its base at RAF Waddington in southern England, monitoring Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, and Belarus, from Polish and Lithuanian airspace. The RAF Sentinels have been frequent visitors to the Baltic airspace, often provoking a reaction from Russian Su-27 Flanker interceptors based in Kaliningrad.