An E-3, two F-16s, and two KC-135s tankers scrambled to intercept and identify the Russian plane, the joint U.S.-Canadian military command said.
U.S. fighter jets were scrambled for a third time in less than a week on Aug. 24 to intercept Russian military planes flying near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement.
On Sunday evening, NORAD confirmed that it detected and tracked a Russian IL-20 COOT surveillance aircraft that was operating within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
In response, NORAD scrambled an E-3, two F-16s, and two KC-135 tankers to intercept and identify the Russian plane in the Alaskan zone, the statement added. The statement did not provide other details on exactly where the encounter occurred.
“The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD said. “This Russian activity in the Alaskan ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
An identification zone starts “where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” NORAD noted.
Over the past week, NORAD dispatched military planes twice to respond to Russian IL-20 aircraft operating in the ADIZ. In no instances did the Russian aircraft enter U.S. airspace.
The planes were scrambled on Aug. 21 and Aug. 20, according to statements from NORAD, which last deployed planes to respond to Russian aircraft in July.
“NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions,” the command said in its statement issued on Aug. 24.
NORAD, which is jointly operated by the U.S. and Canadian militaries, also “remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America,” the statement added.
Sunday’s NORAD mobilization marked the seventh time this year that Russian planes entered the ADIZ, according to press releases issued by NORAD. A review of news releases issued by the command shows that Russian aircraft made similar moves dozens of times in 2024 and 2023.
