Anxiety in the public over security in the US airspace is growing with the military intercepting eight Russian fighter jets spotted flying near Alaska on two separate occasions this week.
According to a statement by the North American Aerospace Defense Command released on Thursday, the military intercepted a group of four Russian planes as they neared the Air Defense Identification Zone in Alaska (ADIZ) on Monday, February 13.
The military stopped four other Russian fighter jets near ADIZ on Tuesday, February 14, NORAD said.
NORAD deployed two F-35A jets, two F-16 fighters, two KC-135 Stratotankers, and an E-3 Sentry aircraft to intercept the Russian jets.
The command tracks and identifies all foreign military aircraft entering the ADIZ, routinely monitors all their movements as necessary and escorts them out of the ADIZ.
NORAD announced the Russian aircrafts did not enter American or Canadian airspace on both occasions and remained in international airspace.
They also said that the Russian activity was a regular occurrence and is not seen as a threat, adding that NORAD does not consider the activity to be provocative. They said they had been prepared for such Russian activity and had planned ahead, and so were prepared to intercept.
Although the command said such incidents were usual, it also noted that Russian intrusions had recently increased.
In their statement, NORAD said that since 2007, when Russia had resumed area Long Range Aviation Activity, they had noticed an annual increase in the interceptions of Russian military aircraft, which now averages six to seven interceptions every year.
The US military has been on high alert since January when the command detected a Chinese spy balloon flying over Alaska on January 28. The balloon spent almost a week in the sky before President Biden ordered it to be shot down on February 4.
The US shot three more objects from the sky in under 10 days.
NORAD said the Russian flight activity was unrelated to the recent shoot-downs of airborne objects over the past two weeks.
