The United States Air Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept and divert four Russian aircraft flying near Alaska. The North American Aerospace Defense Command posted a statement on Twitter on Tuesday in which it said that the incident took place on February 13 when Russian aircraft were "detected, tracked, positively identified". These included TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and SU-35 fighter jets, the agency further said in the statement. Though the aircraft were operating within the Alaska Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), they remained in international airspace.
"NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it," the statement said.
"Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative," it added.
According to Fox News, the US has intercepted Russian aircraft in the North American ADIZ six to seven times a year since 2007.
Elaborating further, the outlet said that two Russian maritime patrol aircraft were detected and tracked off the coasts of Alaska and Canada in September, while a Russian surveillance plane entered the Alaska ADIZ in August.
The latest incident comes just hours after two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft over Poland and escorted them out on Monday.
"The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad," the ministry said, according to news agency Reuters.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast, which also hosts a crucial military air base for Moscow.
