Photo courtesy of NORAD | License Photo
Jan. 31 (UPI) — Russian military jets were “not seen as a threat” when they flew through international airspace not far from the border with Canada and the United States, the North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed.
Multiple Russian military aircraft were observed in the Arctic earlier this week, according to the release issued by NORAD.
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter Alaskan or Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones or sovereign airspace. This activity is not seen as a threat,” the NORAD statement reads.
“Under its mission of maintaining comprehensive domain awareness in the Arctic, NORAD launched a combat air patrol from its Canadian NORAD Region to the northern region of Canada, and an air patrol from its Alaskan NORAD Region off the coast of the Alaska/Yukon border, to further track the activity.”
The military organization scrambled a pair of Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter jets along with a KC-135 refueling aircraft tanker. Two U.S. Air Force F-35s also responded, as well as one E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft designed for surveillance and tracking. American refuelling tankers were also dispatched.
Hours later, NORAD sent a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets to Greenland from a base in Alaska, part of what the military command calls a standard agreement “to forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic.”
The agency said the move is “not in response to any current threat.”
NORAD did not characterize the recent Russian activity as instigative or unsafe.
Last September, a Russian military jet was filmed flying dangerously close to an American fighter plane, patrolling off the coast of Alaska.
NORAD later condemned the action of the Russian Su-35 pilot, saying it was “unsafe, unprofessional and endangered all.”