Nine U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to intercept five Russian warplanes spotted near Alaska.
NORAD, headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, said it spotted and tracked two Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers, two Su-35 fighter jets and an A-50 spy plane traveling through the Alaska Coastal Air Defense Identification Zone on Thursday.
NORAD said it responded by dispatching two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3 and four KC-135s to intercept the aircraft, actively identify them and escort them out of the air defense identification zone.
The command described Russian activity in the air defense identification zone as a recurring incident that is not typically considered a threat, CBS News reported, adding that the five aircraft did not enter U.S. or Canadian airspace.
NORAD said Alaska’s ADIZ is where U.S. and Canadian jurisdiction ends and is “a defined stretch of international airspace where identification of all aircraft is required at all times to maintain national security.”
The United States scrambled nine aircraft to escort five Russian warplanes out of the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on Thursday (Department of Defense)
A similar situation occurred last September, when two Tu-95s and two Su-35s were spotted in the same area, prompting the Defense Command to dispatch an E-3 early warning and control aircraft, followed by four F-16s and four KC-135 tankers to guide them away.
NORAD said at the time that while the presence of Russian aircraft in the air defense identification zone was common and not offensive, it could be interpreted as a test of U.S. and NATO preparedness.
A month ago, a Cold War-era Russian IL-20 COOT military reconnaissance aircraft was spotted four times in a week.
Before that, in September 2024, NORAD posted a short video online showing a Russian jet just feet away from one of its own aircraft.
Earlier that summer, Russian and Chinese aircraft jointly entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, in what a U.S. defense official told CBS was Beijing’s first incursion into Alaska.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insists he is open to ending war in Ukraine but continues to take tough approach (Sputnik)
Currently, relations between Washington and Moscow remain rocky as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its Western neighbor approaches and President Donald Trump attempts to negotiate a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insists he is open to resolving the war and met with Trump in Alaska last year, but has so far refused to commit without major territorial concessions, which Ukraine has also refused to make, clearly frustrating the Americans.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched a blistering attack on Putin, dismissing his claims to Donbass, Crimea and other disputed areas as “historic bullshit” after the latest round of talks in Geneva failed to produce a breakthrough.