U.S. and Canadian fighter jets have been scrambled to escort two Russian nuclear-capable bombers away from the North American shoreline within the Arctic area, army officers say.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on January 26 stated two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers have been recognized coming into an space patrolled by the Royal Canadian Air Force on January 25.
It stated two U.S. F-22 and two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets flew to the location and escorted the Russian bombers out of the zone. The U.S. jets flew out of a base within the U.S. state of Alaska, the army stated.
The reviews didn’t specify the precise location of the encounter. The army screens air visitors within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends 320 kilometers off Alaska.
Russian state-run TASS information company on January 27 cited U.S. officers as saying the Russian jets didn’t enter “sovereign territory.”
It quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying the 2 strategic bombers “accomplished a scheduled flight over impartial waters of the Arctic Ocean [and] practiced refueling” throughout a 15-hour flight.