Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft, top right, is intercepted near the Alaska coastline.
US Air Force Says It’s Intercepting ‘More Russian Jets Near Alaska Than Ever Since Cold War’
Military & Intelligence
10:43 GMT 28.07.2021(updated 10:45 GMT 28.07.2021) Get short URL
by Ilya Tsukanov
The Russian Aerospace Forces is known to occasionally send missile-carrying strategic bombers on patrols in neutral waters near Alaska, with the Pentagon maintaining a large garrison in the northernmost US-state.
S. Clinton Hinote, US Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration and Requirements, has complained that Russia has dramatically ramped up the flights of military aircraft near Alaska last year as climate change continues to provide new opportunities for operations in the Arctic region.
“Not only is there a warming trend, but that’s allowing more activity. Interestingly, all that activity is not benign. So as an example last year, we intercepted more Russian military flights near Alaska than we have ever since the Cold War. So there is a trend not only of competition, but competition in the military realm,” Hinote said, speaking at a webinar hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington-based security-related think tank, on Tuesday.
https://sputniknews.com/military/202107281083477582-us-air-force-says-its-intercepting-more-russian-jets-near-alaska-than-ever-since-cold-war/
