Why you may have seen fighter jets in the skies above Edinburgh today

The planes were part of Exercise Point Blank 20 which also involves the American military.

Training missions are done to hone how allies would fight in real world operations, and RAF and allied aircraft operating over the UK is not unusual.

Today’s exercise was flown over the North Sea, north of England and east of Scotland and involved up to 50 aircraft.

Typhoon jets are flown from RAF Lossiemouth/ The 'planefinder' flight tracker map. | Other 3rd Party

Fighter jets seen or heard over Edinburgh were likely to have been the Typhoons flying out of RAF Lossiemouth (Moray) and Coningsby (Lincolnshire).

The military planes deployed today from various RAF airbases around the UK included:

F15 (RAF Lakenheath)

F-35B (RAF Marham)

Typhoons (RAF Coningsby/Lossiemouth)

MC-130 (RAF Mildenhall)

NATO AWACs & UK AWACs (RAF Brize Norton & RAF Waddington)

DA-20 (EW platform operated by Cobham Aviation Services)

Voyager (RAF Brize Norton)

KC-135 (RAF Mildenhall)

Blackdog & Hotspur CRC (RAF Scampton & Boumer)

Mission planning for Exercise Point Blank 20 took place on Monday, May 11th with RAF, USAF (United States Air Force) and allied participants via video tele-conferencing and in person.

RAF Typhoon fighter jets were also seen in the skies above the Capital on Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

The usual planned events for VE Day across the country were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning events had to be adapted.

VE Day marks the anniversary of the official surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied Forces.