Residents in the Tampa Bay area may have noticed the skies around MacDill Air Force Base have been extra busy lately. The added noise comes from a squad of F-35 pilots who are visiting from Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, said Terry Montrose, a spokesperson for the south Tampa base. Montrose said the Panhandle pilots are here to drill at a bombing range in Avon Park, just outside Sebring. .
France's air force pilots have been threatened with attack by Russian forces during patrol missions in international air space in a sign of rising tensions, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday."A Russian air traffic system threatened to shoot down French planes over the Black Sea" that were patrolling in international airspace at the time, Lecornu said.