Air Force intercepts Russian patrol aircraft near Alaska

A Russian Tu-142 aircraft, like the one in this 2012 photo, was intercepted near Alaska Wednesday, according to NORAD. Photo by Fedor Leukhin via Wikimedia Commons

April 10 (UPI) — U.S. Air Force fighter jets intercepted two Russian patrol aircraft near Alaska this week, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command.

An unspecified number of F-22 Raptors “intercepted two Russian IL-38 aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone” in the Bering Sea north of the Aleutian Islands on Wednesday, according to NORAD’s Twitter feed.

“This is the latest of several occasions in the past month in which we have intercepted Russian aircraft operating near the approaches to our nations. We continue to execute our no-fail homeland defense missions with the same capability and capacity we always bring to the fight,” NORAD Commander General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy said on Twitter.

During a Thursday appearance on “Fox & Friends,” O’Shaughnessy said Russia’s plane came within 50 miles of Alaska’s coast.

In March, NORAD, with help from the Royal Canadian Air Force, intercepted two Russian Tu-142 reconnaissance off the coast of Alaska.

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