US military says ‘tracked, intercepted’ Russian, Chinese bombers off Alaska

The US military says it has intercepted several Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska, the first time the two Asian allies make a joint foray into the area.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement late on Wednesday that two Russian Tu-95s and two Chinese H-6s had entered what is known as the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The aircraft were "detected, tracked and intercepted," NORAD said, adding that they remained in the Alaska ADIZ and did not enter US airspace.

The bombers were intercepted by US F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, along with Canadian CF-18s and other support aircraft, a US defense official confirmed to CBS News. 

The American official said the incident marks the first time that Russian and Chinese aircraft have jointly entered the Alaska ADIZ, and the first time Chinese H-6s have encroached off Alaska.

NORAD stressed in the statement that while the Alaska ADIZ is considered part of international airspace, it is defined as an area where US airspace ends, which "requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security.”

The US military, however, added that the activity from the Russian and Chinese bombers was "not seen as a threat.”

In February, the US military detected four Russian warplanes flying in the Alaska ADIZ, as was another Russian military aircraft in May 2023.

Russian warplanes were intercepted there twice in one week in February 2023, and in the same month, a Chinese spy balloon was detected near Alaska before eventually making its way across the continental US and being shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Meanwhile, the American Coast Guard said in a statement last Wednesday that it had spotted multiple Chinese military warships in the US exclusive economic zone off the coast of Alaska.

US Coast Guard says Chinese warships spotted off Alaska

The American Coast Guard says it has spotted multiple Chinese military warships in the US exclusive economic zone off the coast of Alaska.

The statement said all four Chinese vessels were “transiting in international waters but still inside the US exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the US shoreline.”

The US Coast Guard stopped short of specifying how long the Chinese ships had been in the economic zone but said the Chinese vessels underlined in radio communication that their purpose was “freedom of navigation operations.”

The latest reports come as the US, Canada, Russia and China have ramped up their military activities in the Arctic.

Days earlier, Moscow said it scrambled fighter jets to intercept two US military long-range bomber aircraft that approached the Russian border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

Earlier this month, Canada's defense ministry said it plans to acquire 12 new submarines capable of traveling under sea ice to bolster the defense of the country's vast Arctic coastal region, claiming that China has expanded its own underwater fleet while Russian submarines continue to collect intelligence in Arctic waters.

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