NORAD Intercepts Chinese, Russian Bombers Off Alaska

Facts

• The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a press release on Wednesday that Russian and Chinese military aircraft were 'detected, tracked, and intercepted' in international airspace near Alaska.^[1]
• According to the report, two Russian Tu-95 and two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone — allegedly with no plans to enter either US or Canadian airspace.^[2]
• On Thursday, Beijing and Moscow acknowledged that their air forces had carried out a 'joint strategic aerial patrol' over the northern Pacific Ocean, including the Bering Strait between eastern Russia and Alaska.^[3]
• Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the flights — though not seen as a threat — do raise concerns as Chinese bombers had never flown in that region.^[4]
• This comes as Russia's Vladimir Putin has strengthened military ties with China to counter isolation from the West over the war in Ukraine. Since 2007, six to seven Russian aircraft have been intercepted within the zone every year on average.^[5]
• This latest incident took place only days after Russian jets reportedly scrambled to prevent two US bombers from breaching its border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic region.^[6]

Sources: ^[1]Washington Post, ^[2]Wsj, ^[3]CNN, ^[4]Associated Press, ^[5]New York Times and ^[6]France 24.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by New York Post. It's no coincidence that this show of force near Alaska comes just ahead of Joe Biden's address to the nation about his reasons for withdrawing from the presidential race. China and Russia want to exploit the US leadership weaknesses and power vacuum. The Biden administration keeps failing to maintain adequate national security, sending the wrong messages to its rivals.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by NewsNation. Military provocations by US adversaries are nothing new, so this latest incident near Alaska has nothing to do with either an alleged weakness of the Biden administration or an alleged US global leadership crisis. During the Trump administration, for example, China and North Korea carried out aggressive operations while terrorists attacked US troops in Iraq and Syria.

Predictions