Russian warplanes have been detected flying close to Alaska, forcing the US to dispatch a number of fighter jets – it follows a spate of intrusions into NATO airspace
US fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept Vladimir Putin’s warplanes near Alaska amid growing concern from NATO allies about Russian intrusions.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) claimed to have detected two Russian Tu-95s and two Su-35s operating in Alaska’s Air Defence Identification Zone on Wednesday. Though they did not enter either US or Canadian sovereign airspace, all aircraft entering this zone are closely monitored to determine whether they pose a potential threat.
Nine US aircraft – an E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft, four F-16s and four KC-135 tankers – scrambled to positively identify and intercept the Russian jets, NORAD said.
Towards the end of August, NORAD had already reported Russian military aircraft detected within the ADIZ, having intercepted the same type of plane just days beforehand on three separate occasions. It was reported that the planes entered the area yet again this week – the ninth time this has happened this year.
NORAD explained: “The ADIZ is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security.” NORAD claimed to have responded to the aircraft by mobilising an E-3, four F-16s, and four KC-135 tanker aircraft.
This follows Denmark officials’ continuous investigations of the still-unattributed drones that flew close to Copenhagen airport last week, disrupting traffic in the process. Further Russian drones were shot down after crossing Polish airspace at the start of the month, before entering Estonia’s airspace several days later.
Back in September 2024, a similar occurrence took place when NORAD shared a dramatic clip of a Russian jet flying as close as a few feet away from their aircraft based off of the coast of Alaska. At the time of the incident, the U.G. general described the Russian jet crew’s conduct to be “unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all”.
So far none of these situations have seen Russian warplanes entering US or Canadian sovereign airspace.
It comes after Donald Trump said on Tuesday that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace.Asked if the US would back up Nato allies in such a situation, the US president said “it depends on the circumstance”.Following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month, Trump said he was arranging for direct talks between Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.But Putin has shown no interest in meeting with Mr Zelensky, and Moscow has in recent days intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.