Watch: Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth 'threatened' by Russian fighter jets

The video footage comes from a new six-part BBC series called The Warship: Tour of Duty, which follows the aircraft carrier on her around-world deployment in 2021.

The documentary series has revealed a tense moment onboard the £3.5bn carrier as a small squadron of Russia fighter jets approach the Royal Navy vessel.

As the aircraft edge closer, Royal Navy officers can be seen scrambling into action while Queen Elizabeth's complement of F-35 stealth jets are prepared to launch.

'I've got three Russian jets at six miles,' one naval officer reports as the Russian squadron closes-in at 7,000ft.

An other officer replies: 'Visual. Roger. Three Russian aircraft coming in.’

The Russian jets are warned that the aircraft carrier is prepared to take action to address their ‘threatening’ behaviour.

Warning the Russian pilots over the radio, one officer said: 'This is a coalition warship. Your actions appear to be threatening. Turn away immediately or I may take action against you.’

But the warnings appeared to have no immediate effect.

In the command room, another officer said: 'Warnings have been read following hail from Queen Elizabeth, no response to the warnings this time, aircraft continuing to close.'

The Russian jets are filmed roaring over the 920-ft long carrier, before disappearing out of sight.

The incident caught on camera is among several instances of Royal Navy and Russian forces coming close to contact in the last two years.

The BBC footage is believed to have taken place just days before the Kremlin claimed it had fired warning shots at HMS Defender, which had been part of HMS Queen Elizabeth's carrier group.

Award-winning filmmaker Chris Terrill joined HMS Queen Elizabeth’s crew of approximately 1,600 for the duration of her maiden deployment in 2021.

The series comes after The News’s extensive coverage of the Portsmouth warship on her first deployment, including exclusive stories on the extent of the Covid-19 outbreak onboard and reporting from her triumphant return after the sometimes ‘frustrating’ operations overseas.

The Warship: Tour of Duty starts at 9pm on Sunday, January 22, on BBC 2 and will be available on BBC iPlayer.