The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it intercepted four Russian planes in the Alaska Air Identification Zone on Monday.
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and never entered the sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada,” the organization said in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday afternoon.
NORAD conducts a routine interception of Russian aircraft in the Air Defense Identification Zone pic.twitter.com/bUDqi0MnN2
– North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) February 14, 2023
NORAD, run jointly by the United States and Canada, states that “these types of Russian activities occur regularly” and that they “are not perceived as a threat or a provocation”.
In fact, NORAD has conducted an average of six to seven such intercept attempts per year “since Russia resumed long-haul operations in 2007.”
This theft was therefore “foreseen” and the interception was “planned”.
The two aircraft models intercepted were the TU-95, a bomber, and the other, the SU-35, a fighter.