The North American Aerospace Defense Command says it monitored and intercepted six Russian military aircraft flying near the Western Aleutians on Monday.
Canadian Armed Forces Captain Rebecca Garand said the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace, so they weren’t considered a threat.
According to Garand, two TU-95 Bear bombers, two SU-35 fighters, one TU-142 F/J and one A-50 Mainstay flew over the Bering Sea for about two-and-a-half hours, about 250 nautical miles from Shemya Island in the western Aleutians.
Garand said NORAD launched military aircraft from Alaska to respond to the incident but declined to say how many and what kind.
The Russian aircraft were flying in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, which stretches out 150 miles from sovereign U.S. territory. Russian activity is common in the air defense zone — in January, NORAD scrambled U.S. and Canadian fighter jets to intercept a formation of Russian aircraft flying off the coast of northern Alaska.
In a release, NORAD said it has many options on hand to defend North America. Those include a network of satellites and fighter jets as well as ground-based and airborne radar systems.