NORAD jets intercept 4 Russian aircraft off Alaska coast

The North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command reported that it had detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft entered Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Dec. 17, 2024.

In response, NORAD dispatched four F-16 fighters and an air tanker from Eielson Air Force Base and an electronic surveillance plane out of Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson to intercept the aircraft.

In a NORAD news release issued December 18, it says the four Russian aircraft remained in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone throughout the 15-hour flight and did not enter sovereign U.S. airspace. A NORAD spokesperson later identified the aircraft as two Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Su-35 Flanker fighter jets.

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.

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.

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, the intercept occurred in airspace over neutral waters of the Bering and Chukchi seas along the west and northwest coasts of Alaska.

Russian aircraft regularly fly through the Alaska ADIZ, the last time back in September when NORAD reported several air incursions involved two Russian IL-38 aircraft on Sept. 15, two Russian IL-38s on flights the day before, on Sept. 14; two Russian TU-142 aircraft on Sept. 13 and two other Russian military aircraft on Sept. 11. The Russian aircraft did not enter Alaska territorial airspace but did enter an air identification zone, NORAD said in press releases at the time.

The last Russian sortie reported by NORAD was on Sept. 24, when the same kind of formation of two Bear bombers and two Flanker fighters transited the Alaska air defense ID zone.