US Intercepts And Diverts 4 Russian Fighter Jets Near Alaska

Four Russian aircraft were travelling close to Alaska when the United States Air Force scrambled fighter planes to intercept and deflect them. Russian aircraft were "detected, tracked, and positively identified" on February 13 according to a statement released on Twitter by the North American Aerospace Defense Command on Tuesday. These comprised SU-35 fighter planes and TU-95 BEAR-H bombers, the statement said. The aircraft stayed in international airspace even though they were flying within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). According to the statement, "NORAD had anticipated this Russian operation and, as a result of our preparedness, was prepared to intercept it." "Russian aircraft did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace; they stayed in international airspace." Russian interference in North American politics Regular ADIZ happens and is neither perceived as a threat nor as provocative, it continued.Since 2007, the US claims that it has stopped Russian aircraft six to seven times a year in the North American ADIZ. The source provided more details, stating that two Russian maritime patrol planes were found and monitored in September near the shores of Alaska and Canada, while a Russian observation aircraft flew into the Alaska ADIZ in August. The most recent encounter occurred just hours after two Dutch F-35 jets on Monday intercepted and escorted a formation of three Russian military aircraft above Poland. According to Reuters, the ministry stated that "the then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad." Between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast sits the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which also houses a significant military a Moscow-based aviation.