North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs dispatched fighter jets late Thursday after Russian bombers were detected on an exercise off Alaska, NORAD disclosed today.
Six fighters were launched from Alaska and Canada in response to “a number of the Russian Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers participating in an annual Russian air force exercise near the coast of Alaska and Canada,” Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, NORAD director of operations, said in a drill.
“The Russian air assets at no time violated U.S. or Canadian airspace,” the announcement said.
NORAD scrambled the jets because the Russian aircraft “penetrated North America’s Air Defense Identification Zone,” officials said.
U.S. F-15 jets launched from Alaska intercepted the bombers and flew near them until they left the area.
Canadian CF-18 fighters were also launched but “were not required (to) intercept any of the bombers,” Cairns said.
There was no immediate explanation of why the Russian warplanes came so close to U.S. airspace.
NORAD is a U.S.-Canadian defense partnership that monitors the skies over North America for airborne threats.
