U.S. Pacific Air Forces
A story circulating in international media about Russian military planes intercepted by Canadian and U.S. aircraft was actually a routine occurrence unrelated to recent geopolitical tension between the countries, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
NORAD, an international force tasked with protecting the sovereignty of North America and composed of Canadian and U.S. military assets, responded to two incidents involving Russian aircraft in a span of two days.
The first was Wednesday around 6 p.m. Alaska Time.
Two F-22 fighter jets were scrambled by NORAD to intercept six Russian aircraft operating in international airspace, heading in the direction of North America, roughly 55 miles from Alaskan coastline.
There were two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers, according to Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a NORAD spokesperson.
All the planes were within the Air Defense Identification Zone, a transition zone above water in which aircraft are identified and controlled by military and air traffic controllers. ADIZ extends about 200 miles from the coast.
The second incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, when two long-range Russian bombers ended up within 40 miles of Canadian coastline, also within ADIZ.
Each case resolved uneventfully, with the planes continuing on their way and not moving closer to U.S. airspace when warned by the fighter jets, according to NORAD.
But hundreds of articles appeared in national and international news sources.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked the Pentagon press secretary if the move was related to a visit to Congress by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, in which the president requested American support to oppose Russia in the country's ongoing revolution.
'I've not seen any indication of a linkage to President Porachenko's visit,' Rear Adm. John Kirby told Blitzer.
The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication, opined that the incident was the 'latest nuclear saber rattling by Moscow.'
Many similar questions were raised by many others, but NORAD described the incident as common training that is allowed under international law.
'This is very routine training,' Jazdyk said. 'We've been responsible for in excess of 50 of these in the past five years.'
While Jazdyk said each is taken seriously and pursued as a potential threat, he believes the added attention to this is likely due to an intensifying focus on Russian-U.S. relations: 'People are possibly going to try to link with other geopolitical events going on,' he said. 'But for NORAD it's really nothing different than usual.'
Posted by Unknown on Friday, September 19, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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