The US military has moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a deserted island in the Aleutian chain in western Alaska amid an increase in Russian military aircraft and ships approaching American territory.
Eight Russian military aircraft and four naval ships, including two submarineshas come close to Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conduct joint military exercises. None of the planes violated US airspace and a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday there was no cause for alarm.
“This is not the first time we’ve seen the Russians and the Chinese flying, you know, in the vicinity, and that’s something we’re obviously monitoring very closely, and we’re also prepared to respond,” a Pentagon spokesman said. Major General Pat Ryder spoke at a press conference.
As part of the “force projection operation,” the Army on September 12 sent soldiers to Shemya Island, some 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, where the US Air Force maintains an air station dating back to World War II. The soldiers carry two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARSwith them.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the U.S. military is also deploying guided-missile destroyers and Coast Guard ships to western Alaska as Russia and China begin “Ocean-24” military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic oceans. September 10.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command said it detected and tracked a Russian military aircraft operating over Alaska for four days. There are two flights each on September 11, September 13, September 14 and September 15.
The plane was operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, a zone beyond US sovereign airspace, but where the US expects aircraft to identify themselves, NORAD said.
The Russian Embassy in the US did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
NORAD says the number of such attacks fluctuates from year to year. On average there are six to seven intercepts per year. Last year, 26 Russian aircraft arrived in the Alaska zone, and so far this year, there have been 25.
Often in these meetings, the military provides photos of Russian fighter jets being escorted by US or Canadian aircraft, such as on July 24. intercepted two Russian and two Chinese planes. However, nothing was released last week and a NORAD spokeswoman, Canadian Major Jennie Derenzis, declined to say whether the jet had been intercepted to intercept the Russian aircraft.
Also in July, the Coast Guard spotted four Chinese military ships north of Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands in international waters, but also in the US exclusive economic zone.
The US Coast Guard said on Sunday the homeland security vessel, the 418-foot Stratton, was on routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea when tracking four ships of the Russian Federation Navy about 60 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.
Photo courtesy of the US Coast Guard
Russian ships, which include two submarines, a frigate and a tugboat, have crossed the maritime border into US waters to avoid sea ice, which is allowed under international rules and customs.
Two years ago, a US Coast Guard vessel about 85 miles north of Alaska’s Kiska Island in the Bering Sea found it. three Chinese and four Russian naval vessels sailing in single formation.
In August 2023, the US Navy sent four destroyers to the Alaskan coast after 11 Chinese and Russian warships were seen patrolling international waters in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said the recent spike was “something we will continue to monitor, but it does not pose a threat from our perspective.”
Sullivan called for a greater military presence in the Aleutians while urging the U.S. to respond strongly to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Over the past two years, we have seen Russian-Chinese air and naval exercises off our coast and Chinese spy balloons floating over our communities,” Sullivan said in a statement Tuesday. “These escalating incidents show the Arctic’s critical role in the great power competition between the US, Russia, and China.”
Sullivan said the US Navy should reopen the closed base at Adak, which is in the Aleutians. Naval Air Facility Adak was closed in 1997.
Russia has it too ramped up military presence in the Arctic. The expansion includes the unveiling of two new nuclear submarines by Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking a major strategic shift in the region.
