Russia Boosts Bomber Drills Near North America

The U.S. military said yesterday that the United States or Canada scrambled fighter jets to intercept Russian bombers conducting drills outside U.S. airspace near Alaska on at least seven occasions this summer, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 14).

Most recently, Canadian fighters with the North American Aerospace Defense Command on Sept. 19 flew to meet two Russian aircraft flying off of Canada’s coast, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a NORAD spokesman for the Alaska region.

Russian Tu-95 heavy bombers have carried out at least five exercises near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and the former Cold War outposts of Cape Lisburne and St. Lawrence Island, NORAD records indicated.

Each incident involved between two and six Russian planes and took place outside U.S. airspace.  In each case, Russia warned the United States about the drills through Russian news agency reports, according to Herritage.

“The recent exercises appear to be routine training activities," he said.  “They are nowhere near U.S. airspace.”

The bombers have been met by F-15s or other fighter jets, he said.

“They used to have [bomber drills] from time to time, but not nearly in this frequency,” Herritage said.  “These exercises used to be more common during the Cold War” (Jeannette Lee, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 1).

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