As military posturing goes, it has all the echoes of a classic Cold War contretemps. High above the North Atlantic, an RAF fighter jet offers a none-too-gentle reminder to a Russian aircraft that it is fast approaching British airspace.

But this was not a manoeuvre of the 1960s; rather, it was an incident off the British coast last week — and the first sight of the RAF’s £67 million Eurofighter Typhoon on duty.

In a display of muscle-flexing on both sides, when two Russian Bear-H aircraft appeared on British horizons last Friday, two Typhoons, based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, were scrambled to identify and shadow the unannounced arrivals, which turned back before reaching UK airspace.

That was not before a photo was snatched — which the Ministry of Defence, doubtless keen to parade its new hardware, released last night to show the “Bear alert” in action.

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Diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow — already stretched by the murder of Alexander Litvinenko — were given a further tweak as the Bear bombers headed towards Britain.

It was the first time that Russian bombers had threatened to penetrate British airspace since President Putin indicated, with no little chutzpah, that he had ordered his air force to resume long-range patrols around the world.

The arrival of the bombers over the North Atlantic forced the RAF to scramble its latest combat aircraft, the Typhoon, for the first time since becoming operational. The fighter jets were officially put on active standby last month, ready to protect Britain from hijacked airliners and other threats from the skies.

Last week President Putin said he was ending a 15-year suspension of bomber flights, and announced that 14 strategic aircraft had taken to the air from seven airfields across Russia. The tough new stance was illustrated somewhat graphically by pictures of Mr Putin fishing topless that had been released during the week.

There was irritation in the West: the announcement seemed to reflect President Putin’s growing antipathy towards his Western partners and his determination to show the world that Moscow was once again a power with which to be reckoned.

Yesterday he amplified that message, pledging to boost Russia’s armed forces and revive its once mighty military aircraft industry. “Russia has a very important goal, which is to retain leadership in the production of military equipment,” Mr Putin declared at an airshow, the biggest display of Russian air power since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russians started sending long-range bombers towards British airspace this year to snoop on a maritime exercise, recalling the Cold War days when Soviet strategic aircraft regularly tested Britain’s air defence responses.

A dozen Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft of 3 (Fighter) Squadron are now on round-the-clock active duty at RAF Coningsby. The Typhoon, replacing the RAF’s ageing fleet of Tornado F3 jets, will be at constant readiness to intercept any aircraft thought to be a threat, specifically a September 11-style terrorist attack. Two Typhoons will be poised 24 hours a day as the designated Quick Reaction Alert force for southern Britain.

Tornado F3 jets based at RAF Leuchars, near St Andrews, Fife, will share the same role over the northern UK airspace for five to six months yet before they, too, are replaced.

Britain has ordered 144 Typhoons, which can reach Mach 2.0 (twice the speed of sound — about 1,500mph) and can accelerate from standing to take-off in less than seven seconds.

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