France’s eye in the sky: Tracking Russian vessels in the Baltic

Onboard Atlantique 2 over the Baltic Sea: The cluster of dots on the Atlantique 2's screens may seem like a confusing mess to the untrained eye, but not to the crew of the French naval surveillance aircraft tasked with telling friend from foe in the Baltic Sea.

“Another tarantula,” says an operator as the Russian corvette of the Tarantul class becomes visible, travelling in a pack with other Russian vessels as several nearby Nato ships also criss-cross the placid northeastern European sea.