Bears Wandering Alaska

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) set forth in a 13 February 2023 statement that United States Air Force F-16 fighter jets had intercepted a number of Russian military aircraft that penetrated and briefly operated within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The ADIZ is an area of airspace beyond U.S. sovereign territory within which the ready identification, location, and control of all aircraft—excepting those operated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and acknowledged law-enforcement agencies—is required in the interest of U.S. national security.

The intercepted Russian aircraft reportedly included a pair of Tu-95 “Bear” bombers, functionally obsolete 1950s-vintage, quad-turboprops; and a Su-35 “Flanker,” a formidable, single-seat, twin-engine, supermaneuverable aircraft designed and built by Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau.

Notwithstanding prevailing tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow’s belligerence in Ukraine, NORAD contended the interloping aircraft represented no threat to American citizens, interests, or security.

"NORAD tracks and positively identifies foreign military aircraft that enter the ADIZ," and "routinely monitors foreign aircraft movements and as necessary, escorts them from the ADIZ," the statement asserted.

Russia, as a matter of convention, holds annual military exercises in late winter. Whether the presence of the intercepted aircraft over Alaska was attributable to such drills remains unknown.

“This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative,” NORAD’s statement continued. “NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it.”

In addition to the aforementioned, the NORAD statement comprised assurances that the presence of Russian aircraft in America’s far north is unrelated to the surfeit of mystery aerial objects by which U.S. airspace has been conspicuously, contentiously, and continually intruded upon throughout February 2023.

To the subject of tracking foreign aircraft, NORAD stated it employs "a layered defense network" of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars, and fighter jets. According to the organization’s website, NORAD’s Alaskan region is capable of detecting "what goes on in and near North American airspace 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week."

That U.S. sovereign airspace has been repeatedly violated by objects originating in the northern latitudes—to include a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the majority of the North American continent between 28 January and 04 February 2023—belies NORAD’s claims of boundless and perpetual perspicacity.

FMI: www.norad.mil