Two traffic patrol officers from North Berwick in the UK were involved in
an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the A-1 Great
North Road.
One of the officers used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a
vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the
speed was recorded at over 300 mph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and
the officers were not able to reset it. Just then a deafening roar over the
treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a NATO Tornado
fighter jet which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Border
district, approaching from the North Sea .
Back at police headquarters the chief constable fired off a stiff complaint
to the RAF Liaison office.
Back came the reply in true RAF style:
"Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this
incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the
Tornado had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked onto, your
hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it.
Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had
also automatically locked onto your equipment. Fortunately the pilot flying
the Tornado recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to
the missile systems alert status, and was able to override the automated
defence system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar
installation was destroyed."