With the military intercepting eight Russian fighter jets last week after they were observed flying close to Alaska on two different occasions, public concern over the security of US airspace is rising.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said that on February 13, the military intercepted a group of four Russian aircraft as they approached the Air Defense Identification Zone in Alaska (ADIZ).
On February 14, four more Russian fighter jets were intercepted by the military close to ADIZ, according to NORAD.
In order to intercept the Russian jets, NORAD sent out two F-35A jets, two F-16 fighters, two KC-135 Stratotankers, and one E-3 Sentry aircraft.
All foreign military aircraft that enter the ADIZ are tracked and identified by the command, which also escorts them out of the ADIZ and routinely monitors all of their activities.
According to NORAD, the Russian aircrafts remained in international airspace on both occasions and did not enter American or Canadian airspace.
They added that NORAD did not view the Russian activity as provocative and that it was a routine event that was not perceived as a threat. They claimed to have planned ahead and were ready for such Russian operations, making them ready to intercept.
The command acknowledged that such occurrences were common but also mentioned a recent rise in Russian intrusions.
According to NORAD’s statement, the number of Russian military aircraft interceptions has increased annually since 2007, when Russia resumed its area Long Range Aviation Activity, averaging six to seven interceptions presently.
Since the command discovered a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over Alaska on January 28, the American military has been on high alert. Prior to President Biden’s decision to shoot the balloon down on February 4, it had been in the air for about a week.
In less than ten days, the US destroyed three more objects in the sky.
According to NORAD, the recent shoot-downs of aerial objects over the past two weeks had nothing to do with the Russian flight activities.