Two JAS-39 Gripen aircraft of the Hungarian Air Force were scrambled on Thursday to identify a Pakistani Boeing 777 airliner which did not transmit any identification, the Hungarian Army said on its website.
The Pakistani plane, en route from London to Pakistan, entered Hungarian airspace in the evening hours of Feb. 27 and the pilot did not make contact with Hungarian airspace control.
The Hungarian military had advance warning, as before entering the country it also failed to identify itself to Czech air control as well, and was escorted to the Hungarian border by the Czech Air Force.
It remains unclear at the time of publication why the Pakistani aircraft refused to identify itself.
The last case of an unidentified civilian aircraft entering Hungarian airspace was last April when a small private jet en route from Baku, Azerbaijan to Oxford, England entered the country.
Yesterday’s incident happened just after the Defense Commission of the Hungarian Parliament held a meeting at the Kecskemét Air Force base in central Hungary, where the Gripens military aircraft are based.
Title image: JAS-39 Gripen multirole fighter of the Hungarian Air Force. (source: honvedelem.hu)
