Al Tupolev Tu-134A-4a variant of the Soviet Tu-134 twin-engine airliner, is colloquially known as the ‘Black Pearl’ because it has a dark gray color decorated with white, blue and red decorative stripes.
One of those aircraft (with registration number 53 and insignia RF-12041) took off last week from the Russian mainland bound for the the place where the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy has its headquarters located.
As reported by the German media the ‘Black Pearl’ plane, which was Accompanied by two Russian two-seat Sukhoi Su-30SM2 fighters, it was found in the Baltic Sea with the viewfinder of two Eurofighters.
Specifically, the Tupolev Tu-134A-4 along with the Sukhoi Su-30SM2 fighter aircraft were intercepted in international airspace by two Eurofighter Typhoons belonging to the Italian Air Force.
That pair of Italian Eurofighter Typhoons were not there by chance. The two fighter planes meet destination in Ämari (Estonia)from where they perform air surveillance tasks in the Baltic Sea for NATO.
what is an unknown es What mission did the Russian planes have?. In that sense, since Flight review They point out that the two Sukhoi Su-30SM2 They were flying without external cargo, so it could be a simple transfer flight to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
It should be noted that last week, the Russian state company Rostec announced from the Irkutsk aircraft factory the delivery of a new batch of newly built Su-30SM-2 aircraft. The temporal coincidence between the announcement and this mission makes It is possible that the two fighter planes that were being brought to Kaliningrad were the newly built ones.
However, what has no explanation, at least for the moment, is What role was the ‘Black Pearl’ plane playing? when accompanying those two fighters.
