For the fourth time in five days, Russian aircraft have flown through international airspace off Alaska’s coast. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said Sunday that it detected and tracked a couple of Il-38 maritime surveillance aircraft Saturday as they were flying through the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
The Il-38s also are designed for anti-submarine warfare.
Later Sunday, NORAD posted another news release stating it also tracked and detected two Il-38s flying through the Alaska air-defense ID zone earlier that day.
The flurry of Russian forays into the Alaska zone began Wednesday, when NORAD tracked and detected, then dispatched jet fighters to intercept two Russian Tu-142s and accompanied them through Air Defense Identification zone.
Those aircraft also are designed for maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare.
NORAD then detected and tracked two Tu-142s flying through the zone on Friday. But its news release release issued later that dayand the two posted on Sunday did not state that the aircraft were intercepted. A NORAD spokesperson said Sunday that the agency won’t release any additional information for operational security reasons.
Russian aircraft frequently fly through the Air Defense Identification Zone, an area off the coast of Alaska that separates international and sovereign airspace. NORAD routinely says the Russian flights are not seen as a threat.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
