Overview
- Two Tu-95 bombers, two Su-35 fighters and one A-50 were detected operating in Alaska’s ADIZ near the Bering Strait.
- U.S. forces launched two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3 and four KC-135 tankers to identify and escort the formation.
- The Russian aircraft were escorted until they departed the zone and did not enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace.
- Russia’s defense ministry released footage of the encounter and described a more than 14-hour Bering Sea patrol with air-to-air refueling and fighter escorts.
- NORAD noted similar intercepts in recent years and said this is the first reported activity in the Alaska ADIZ since September.