Two Russian bombers were intercepted Friday by U.S. Air Force jets as they flew within 200 miles of the Alaskan coast.
The North American Aeorospace Defense Command announced the intercept, Fox News reported.
The incident was the first time in roughly a year that Russia had send its Cold War-era Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” bombers that close to Alaska. The Tu-95 is capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
“At approximately 10 a.m. ET, two Alaskan-based NORAD F-22 fighters intercepted and visually identified two Russian TU-95 ‘Bear’ long-range bomber aircraft flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone around the western coast of Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands,” NORAD spokesman Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessy said in a statement, according to CNN.
The bombers were “intercepted and monitored by the F-22s until the bombers left the ADIZ along the Aleutian Island chain heading west,” the statement said.
NORAD said that although the bombers were within the air defense identification zone, which extends 200 miles from the U.S., they were never in U.S. airspace.
Fox News, citing sources it did not name, said the Russian places were within 55 miles of the coast when they were intercepted. – READ MORE
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