North American Aerospace Defense Command F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft positively identified and intercepted Russian Tu-142 military aircraft upon entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone in international airspace near the Chukchi Sea, March 4, 2026. (Department of Defense)
Two Russian Tu-142 “Bear-F” long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft were detected and tracked Wednesday in the American and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones off Alaska.
North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighters, two F-22 Raptor fighters, four KC-135 Stratotankers, one E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, two Royal Canadian CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft and one CC-150 Polaris tanker to intercept, identify and monitor the Russian aircraft.
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD said in a statement. “This Russian activity in the Alaskan and Canadian ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
The Air Defense Identification Zone begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of U.S. and Canadian national security, NORAD said.
The Wednesday incident was the first since the war in Iran began on Feb. 28.
The incursion is the second time in a month that Russia has sent aircraft into the zone. On Feb. 19, Russia sent two TU-95s accompanied by two SU-35 “Flanker-E” fighters and an A-50 “Mainstay” early warning radar aircraft.
In that incident, the U.S. launched F-35 and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, along with an E-3 and refueling tankers.
Russian and Chinese aircraft, sometimes flying together, have flown through the ADIZ in recent years as military and commercial activity in the Arctic Ocean has grown. Russia and China also dispatched a joint flotilla of military ships in the Arctic in 2024.
“NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions,” the command said. “NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”
The Air Defense Identification Zones off Alaska. (NORAD)
