Russian Warplanes Spotted Near Alaskan Coast

On Tuesday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command announced that it had seen and followed four Russian warplanes that were approaching Alaska. The Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is a monitored area around 150 miles off the coast of the United States that allows for extra reaction time in the event of hostile activity, is where the military aircraft were operating.

The next day, Poland, a NATO partner, had to deploy F-16 fighter planes when a Russian missile approached its border within 31 miles. The Polish Deputy Prime Minister claimed that this kind of incident was becoming more frequent.

Russia verified that two of its Tu-95 bombers had flown over waters close to Alaska. Russia's defense ministry reported that the Tu-95s flew for almost nine hours while being escorted by SU-30SM fighter fighters.

"The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat." – stated NORAD

Although there was no perceived threat from these Russian airplanes, military operations in the region have garnered media attention in recent times. Following reports of 11 Russian and Chinese warships sighted cruising in adjacent international waters, the U.S. Navy dispatched destroyers to the Alaskan coast in August. Alaskan Republican Senator Dan Sullivan described the scale of that joint Chinese-Russian operation as "unprecedented."

Source: CBS News