A NORAD F-16 intercepts and monitors a Russian TU-95 near the Bering Sea on July 22, 2025. (NORAD)
U.S. and Canadian fighter jets scrambled Tuesday to intercept Russian warplanes flying near the Bering Sea west of Alaska in an incident that lasted three hours, military officials said.
Two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Russian Su-35 Flanker fighter jets flew into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, a buffer area outside of American and Canadian airspace where foreign military and commercial aircraft are monitored. The zone covers millions of square miles, including large portions of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the northern Pacific. It also encompasses the entire Aleutian Island chain.
Aircraft are permitted to fly in the zone as long as they identify themselves to air traffic controllers with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint American Canadian organization that protects the airspace of both countries.
Such intercepts are fairly routine, military officials have said.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Canadian Air Force Capt. Rebecca Garand, a NORAD spokeswoman, said Thursday about the Russian flights. “There was no special or obvious reason they were there.”
NORAD scrambled six fighter jets — two F-35 Lightning II and four F-16 Fighting Falcons — to intercept, identify, and monitor the Russian aircraft. The NORAD jets escorted the Russian planes until they left the Alaskan zone. The fighter jets were supported by a pair of KC-135 Stratotankers for possible in-flight refueling, as well as an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft to provide additional communications and navigation information.
Garand said there were no unusual interactions on Tuesday such as the incident in September 2024 when a Russian SU-35 buzzed the cockpit of an F-16 in what the U.S. Air Force said was an “unsafe maneuver” by the Russian pilot.
The TU-95 was introduced in 1952 as a long-range bomber capable of hitting American targets with nuclear weapons. NATO analysis has reported the Bear has been superseded by Russian supersonic aircraft in its strategic bombing role. However, it remains the main Russian long-range reconnaissance aircraft because of its 5,000-mile range without refueling.
The SU-35 is a single-seat, twin-engine fighter.
NORAD has had to increasingly monitor Russian and Chinese aircraft and ships in the region.
The Chinese air force has also joined patrols alongside Russian aircraft. In July 2024, NORAD intercepted a Chinese Xi’an H-6 bomber. It was patrolling the Alaskan identification zone accompanied by Russian TU-95s.
