The plane appeared in the air at the very moment the marines on board the USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, gathered on deck for a group photo, Military.com reported. The flyby provided the American troops with a rare opportunity to check out the Tu-142, which NATO codenamed ‘Bear-F.’

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that two Tu-142 anti-submarine aircraft performed a planned flight over the neutral waters of the Norwegian Sea on Friday. The planes spent 12 hours in the air and successfully returned to base in the Russian northern-central Vologda Region.

“All flights of the naval aircraft of the Russian Navy are carried out in strict accordance with the international rules for the use of airspace without violating the borders of other countries,” the ministry said.

READ MORE: Russian bombers up in the sky for NATO wargames, stir up UK jets

Trident Juncture 18 underway in Norway are NATO’s largest drills in decades, involving some 50,000 troops, 10,000 combat vehicles, 65 ships, and 250 aircraft.

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