Britain recently called on its NATO allies to assist in searching for an unidentified submarine spotted off its western Scottish coast, Reuters reported.
France, the United States and Canada sent aircrafts to help search for the submarine after a periscope was spotted in an area of water where Royal Navy submarines normally surface on their way in or out of a base at Faslane, according to Aviation Week.
Other than saying it received NATO support, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) declined to provide additional details, and would not say whether NATO planes were looking for a submarine or when the search took place, but reports suggest they occurred in late November and early December. It's unclear whether the submarine had entered British territorial waters, Reuters reported.
"NATO partners have provided assistance for the operation of maritime patrol aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth for a limited period with the Royal Navy. We do not discuss the detail of maritime operations," the MoD said in a statement.
Because Britain no longer has its own fixed-wing aircraft specifically designed to search for subs, it had to call on allies for assistance, resulting in the Scottish National Party Defence spokesman Angus Robertson referring to the situation as "hugely embarrassing for the UK which is totally exposed without such critical maritime patrol assets," reported BBC.
"It is not the first time they have had to depend on the goodwill of allies to fill this massive capability gap. It is absurd that Scotland as a maritime nation doesn't have a single maritime patrol aircraft," Robertson said.
"All of our surrounding neighbours have them. It is utter madness that the MoD are going to renew Trident at a cost of £100bn but not on essential conventional kit like these aircraft."
Growing tensions between the West and Russia over the continuing Ukraine crisis have left many speculating that world powers are in the midst of a second Cold War.
Russia sent a squadron of warships through the English channel last month, and in October, Sweden claimed it had proof a foreign submarine was operating illegally in its waters.
Recent months have seen Russian aircrafts intercepted by multiple countries for flying too close to foreign airspace, including near Alaskan and Canadian coasts.
A Russian military plane entered Estonia's airspace on Tuesday, according to the Estonian defense forces, who said the country's foreign ministry called the Russian ambassador in protest.
Also this week, on Monday and Sunday, fighter jets from NATO's Baltic patrol intercepted Russian military aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic sea and off the Norwegian coast, a NATO spokeswoman told Reuters.
Russia said in November that it would soon begin flying bomber patrols in the Gulf of Mexico.
