Four Russian warplanes flew over US airspace near Alaska on Tuesday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, marking the latest incident involving Russian aircraft off the coast of Alaska. American state.
The military operation was routine, according to the agency, which detected and tracked the planes. Although the Russian planes remained in international airspace, they entered a region beyond the sovereign airspace of the United States and Canada called the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), where planes should identify themselves, according to NORAD.
The ADIZ is a stretch of international airspace bordering the sovereign space around the United States and Canada, which both countries monitor in order, ideally, to easily detect any planes passing through it. Surveillance in the defense zone is maintained for reasons of national security.
NORAD said it uses a “network of satellites, ground and airborne radars, and combat aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions” and “remains prepared to employ a number of options response for the defense of North America.
The US military reported similar actions by four Russian warplanes detected off the coast of Alaska in February and September. The September report came shortly after more than 100 American soldiers were temporarily deployed to Shemya Island, Alaska, in response to a spike in Russian military activity off North America’s western borders, which a U.S. general described as an exercise aimed at testing readiness of the army to deploy troops and equipment.
Their deployment coincided with eight Russian aircraft and four naval ships, including two submarinestraveling near Alaska while Russia and China conducted joint military exercises. None of these planes entered American airspace.
On September 30, NORAD released a dramatic video of a Russian fighter jet flying near a NORAD plane off the coast of Alaska. At the time, a US general said that “the behavior of a Russian Su-35 was dangerous, unprofessional and put everyone in danger.”
Russian warplanes have also been detected in neighboring airspaces in recent months. In November, NATO said Italy and Norway each took off their planes after Russian jets were seen over the Baltic Sea and along the Norwegian coast. NATO did not share details of the Russian activity but said the planes “did not meet international standards” when Italian and Norwegian forces were mobilized. Russia has intensification of military operations in the Arctic Circle, which includes part of Norway.
The South Korean army also he said he took off fighter planes in November, after five Chinese and six Russian military aircraft entered its air defense zone but did not cross the country’s airspace.
The Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report.
