US military officials released video on Monday of a close encounter between a Russian fighter jet and a US Air Force F-16 near Alaska.
This incident happened on September 23, when the Russian plane approached from behind and passed very close to the American plane, as shown in the video.
North American outer space Protection command (NORAD), who led the American pilot, shared the video of the incident on social media platform X.
“On September 23, 2024, a NORAD aircraft conducted a safe and disciplined interception of Russian military aircraft in Alaska Air Defense,” NORAD posted on X.
The collision took place after several Russian jets entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, which lies just outside US sovereign airspace.
General Gregory Guillot, commander of NORAD and the US Northern Command, criticized the actions of the Russian pilot. “The behavior of a Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional and endangered everyone – not what you would expect from a professional air force,” Guillot said. He added that the NORAD plane followed a “safe and disciplined” interception procedure.
The close pass came several weeks after Russian warplanes and naval vessels, including submarines, approached Alaska during joint exercises with China. Although none of the planes entered US airspace, approximately 130 US troops were temporarily stationed on Shemya Island, about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, before returning to their bases.
US Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, said the recent incident underscores the need to strengthen US military presence in Alaska and the Arctic. “The reckless and unprofessional maneuvers of Russian fighter pilots – just feet from our Alaska-based fighter jets – at Alaska Air Defense on September 23 put the lives of our brave airmen at risk and underscore the escalating aggression we are witnessing from dictators like Vladimir Putin”, Sullivan said.
In July, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together in international airspace near Alaska for the first time, signaling increased cooperation between the two countries. In 2022, a US Coast Guard vessel encountered a formation of Chinese and Russian naval vessels in the Bering Sea, about 85 miles north of Alaska’s Kiska Island.
