The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Friday announced that it had detected Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The Alaska ADIZ is a portion of international airspace adjacent to American airspace within which the U.S. requires the identification of all aircraft for security purposes.
"The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on 5 April 2024," the organization stated in a press release. "The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat."
The press release did not identify the class of aircraft. The Russian Air Force is the second largest in the world after that of the U.S. The exact number of craft it maintains is somewhat unclear in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of 2022, however, it had 3,864 in its arsenal, according to World Population Review.
In Early February, NORAD issued a similar press release, albeit to report the entry of two Russian aircraft within the Alaska ADIZ. It further noted that that incident was the "second time NORAD detected and tracked Russian aircraft in three days."
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