Four Russian Military Aircraft Spotted Near Alaska

Four Russian military aircraft entered international airspace close to Alaska on Monday, the U.S. and Canada’s joint command said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, tracked the Russian aircraft in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, the command said in a statement.

The Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone is international airspace, but all aircraft entering it must identify themselves. The Russian aircraft did not cross over into U.S. nor Canadian airspace, NORAD said.

“This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” the U.S. military added. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

NORAD has reported Russian aircraft appearing several times this month in the Alaska ADIZ, including two Russian Il-38 patrol aircraft that were spotted on September 14 and September 15.

The U.S. tracked two Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft in the Alaska ADIZ on September 13, NORAD said. The command said in a separate statement that it had tracked two unspecified Russian military aircraft in the Alaska ADIZ on September 11.

Back in July, NORAD said it had tracked two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two H-6 military aircraft belonging to China in the Alaska ADIZ. U.S. and Canadian fighter jets intercepted the aircraft, the command said.

“NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” the U.S. and Canadian military said at the time.

Alaska looks out on to the Arctic, a region where Russia is upping its presence and one that the U.S. and Canada are watching closely. China, too, is increasing its footprint in the Arctic, the Pentagon and NATO officials have assessed, although it is not one of the Arctic states.

“Russian and Chinese incursions into U.S. zones off Alaska have become an increasingly frequent occurrence,” Alaska governor, Mike Dunleavy, said earlier this month.

“Alaska’s strategic position on the globe gives the United States an advantage in the Arctic and the Pan Pacific,” Dunleavy added in a statement posted to social media.

“But we need leaders in Washington to recognize that Russia and China are increasing their military presence in the region,” the governor said, calling for the U.S. to boost its military spending in Alaska.

Russia, while taking painful blows to its land forces in Ukraine and its Black Sea Fleet around Crimea, has the largest military presence in the region of all the Arctic nations and is an “acute threat,” the U.S. has said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks reported by Russian state media on Friday that Moscow was “fully ready to defend its interests militarily, politically and from the standpoint of defense technologies” in the Arctic in response to NATO drills in the region.

“The Arctic is not the territory of the North Atlantic alliance,” Lavrov added.

Moscow is busy reopening a number of its Cold War-era facilities in the region, many of which are designed for reconnaissance and surveillance, Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve colonel and a senior adviser with the U.S. think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Newsweek.

Russia, and NATO states like the U.S., have conducted military exercises in the Arctic over the past few months.

Update 9/24/2024, 4:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.