A high-tech Australian military surveillance plane was dispatched to skies above eastern Europe early on Sunday as Russia launched a series of devastating missile and drone strikes against Ukraine.

Flight tracking data shows the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) E-7A Wedgetail aircraft with the callsign “MAGPIE 01” flew out of a Polish air base and headed east towards the Ukrainian border.

The Airbourne early warning and control aircraft with up to a dozen Australian crew on board flew at around 15,000 feet during its NATO mission and was joined by an air-to-air refuelling plane which was deployed from a German airbase in Cologne.

Australia’s E-7A Wedgetail is equipped with a MESA radar which can see over 300km, offering advanced warning of Russian drone, missile and aircraft incursions

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