After an Air Force pilot’s close encounter with a Russian fighter jet last week, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is calling for the U.S. military to continue building its presence in Alaska to “meet force with force.”
In a video of the Sept. 23 encounter released by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber can be seen flying to the left of an American jet. Suddenly, a Su-35 jet passed the American F-16 fighter on its left as it rolled to the right.
The F-16 pilot reflexively banked right to avoid a collision as the Su-35 flew off into the distance.
In a press release, Sullivan said that such a maneuver is dangerous and puts lives at risk.
“The reckless and unprofessional maneuvers of Russian fighter pilots — within just a few feet of our Alaska-based fighters — in Alaska’s ADIZ on September 23 put the lives of our brave Airmen at risk and underscore the escalating aggression we’re witnessing from dictators like Vladimir Putin,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also called for increased focus on military projects in Alaska, like the port expansion project in Nome. Once complete, the port expansion in Nome will be capable of hosting all U.S. Navy vessels except for the U.S.’s fleet of enormous 1,100-foot-long aircraft carriers.
“We need to answer force with force and continue building up America’s military presence in Alaska and the Arctic with more infrastructure, like the strategic Arctic port at Nome and reopening the Adak Naval Air Facility, and more military assets,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s call to reopen the Adak Naval Air Facility, which closed in 1997, comes as the U.S. military recently moved 130 troops to Shemya Island some 400 miles west of Adak Island.
