Skip to footer

US F-22 fighters intercept six Russian planes near Alaska

Six Russian aircraft were intercepted off the coast of Alaska early Thursday. In recent weeks, there's been an increase in Russian activity in the air defense zone near Alaska.

|
(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Russian Air Force's IL-78 air-to-air refueling tanker, right, demonstrates in-flight refueling of a Tu-160 strategic bomber over Moscow, Russia, May 3, 2014.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Colorado Springs, Colo.

Two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes that neared the western coast of Alaska, military officials said Friday.

At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two of the long-range bombers about 40 nautical miles (64 nautical kilometers) off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.

Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said the U.S. jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles (88 kilometers) from the Alaskan coast at about 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.

The Russian planes were identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers. They looped south and returned to their base in Russia after the U.S. jets were scrambled.

In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles (321 kilometers) from the coastline. They did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.

Jazdyk said the fighter jets were scrambled "basically to let those aircraft know that we see them, and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace."

In the past five years, jets under NORAD's command have intercepted more than 50 Russian bombers approaching North American airspace.

In early August, Russian bombers, a reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft were intercepted near Alaska.

The flights are part of an uptick of activity in and near the Alaska air defense identification zone that have sent U.S. fighter jets in a hurry to intercept the aircraft, Preston Schlachter, a spokesman for NORAD, told the New York Daily News.

The zone covers parts of the Aleutian archipelago, the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.

NORAD is a binational American and Canadian command responsible for air defense in North America.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to US F-22 fighters intercept six Russian planes near Alaska
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0920/US-F-22-fighters-intercept-six-Russian-planes-near-Alaska
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe