Russian military aircraft were spotted flying in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday and Wednesday, an activity that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said “occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
In both instances, NORAD said the Russian aircraft were detected and tracked.
The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and didn’t enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace.
NORAD said, “An ADIZ begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security.”
The activity comes as President Donald Trump is working to begin negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The latest detections of Russian aircraft flying in the ADIZ come less than a month after NORAD, which comprises U.S. and Canadian forces under a joint command, said it monitored multiple Russian military aircraft activity in the Arctic.
While the Russian aircraft in that instance also remained in international airspace and was not seen as a threat, NORAD said it launched a combat air patrol from its Canadian NORAD Region to the northern region of Canada, and an air patrol from its Alaskan NORAD Region off the coast of the Alaska/Yukon border, to further track the activity.
NORAD in September addressed a tense moment between Russian and NORAD forces depicted on video, in which a Russian Su-35 whipped directly in front of a NORAD F-16, apparently taking it by surprise, over the ADIZ.
NORAD said at the time that the “unprofessional air maneuver directed at our NORAD F-16” occurred while it “was conducting a routine professional intercept of a Russian Tu-95 aircraft” on Sept. 23.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander of the North American Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command condemned the dangerous behavior in a statement at the time.
“NORAD aircraft flew a safe and disciplined intercept of Russian Military Aircraft in the Alaska ADIZ. The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” Guillot said.
