NORAD Shows Dramatic Video of Russian Fighter Jet Flying Close to Aircraft Off Alaska

A Russian fighter jet flies close to a North American Aerospace Defense Command near the coast of Alaska, as seen in this Sept. 23, 2024, photo. NORAD

A Russian fighter jet flew close to a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) aircraft near the coast of Alaska, the command said on Monday.

A NORAD aircraft intercepted the Russian military aircraft in a “safe and disciplined” manner near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Sept. 23, NORAD said.

“The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all—not what you’d see in a professional air force,” Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of NORAD, said in a statement.

In a previous statement, NORAD said that the Russian plane stayed in international airspace and didn’t enter U.S. or Canadian airspace. It added that the Russian activity in the ADIZ “is not seen as a threat” and occurs on a regular basis.

A 15-second video posted by NORAD on social media on Monday shows a military jet flying several feet away from the NORAD aircraft, banking to the right and left.

In all, four Russian military planes were detected and tracked off the coast of Alaska, NORAD said last week. They were spotted only days after 130 U.S. troops were deployed to a remote Alaska island with rocket launchers amid a spike in Russian activity off the western United States, officials said.

Aside from the Sept. 23 intercept, NORAD has previously said it detected and tracked Russian military jets operating off Alaska multiple times in September, with incidents occurring on Sept. 11, 12, 13,  14, and 15.

The military command said that in each of those instances, the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter U.S. or Canadian airspace.

Officials said on Sept. 17 that eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, had come close to Alaska in those instances as Russia and China carried out joint drills.

“It’s not the first time that we’ve seen the Russians and the Chinese flying, you know, in the vicinity, and that’s something that we obviously closely monitor, and it’s also something that we’re prepared to respond to,” Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news conference, adding that there is no cause for alarm.

Ryder said that as part of a “force projection operation,” the U.S. Army on Sept. 12 sent soldiers to Shemya Island, some 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, where the U.S. Air Force maintains an air station that dates to World War II.

The soldiers brought two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, with them, he said.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said the U.S. military also deployed a guided missile destroyer and a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to the western region of Alaska on Sept. 10 as Russia and China began the “Ocean-24” military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

“In the past two years, we’ve seen joint Russian–Chinese air and naval exercises off our shores and a Chinese spy balloon floating over our communities,” Sullivan said in a statement earlier in September. “These escalating incidents demonstrate the critical role the Arctic plays in great power competition between the U.S., Russia, and China.”

Russia has not publicly responded to NORAD’s statement on Monday regarding the “unsafe” and “unprofessional” conduct.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.