Russian warplanes enter Alaskan air defence zone twice

126
1
Russian warplanes enter Alaskan air defence zone twice

Russian surveillance aircraft entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone twice over a two-day period, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Tuesday.

The Alaskan NORAD detected the aircraft, which remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, according to a news release.

An air defense identification zone is a self-declared area of airspace surrounding a country or territory where it will try to identify foreign military aircraft. Although the zones have no basis in international law, breaching another territory's zone is seen as an act of aggression.

For months ahead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, China regularly sent warplanes into the self-ruling island's air defense identification zone.

NORAD uses a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based radars, airborne radar and fighter aircraft to identify other aircraft and come up with appropriate actions.

The agency said in a statement that they remain prepared to employ a number of response options in defense of North America and Arctic sovereignty.

Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine in February. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of civilians still left in Donetsk, the heart of Russia's latest attack, were warned that they needed to evacuate while there is still time. More than two-thirds of civilians have already fled but an estimated 350,000 remain, according to officials in Donetsk.

Russia launched an attack against Donetsk after seizing control of Luhansk last month. Gaining control of both could mean a major victory for the Kremlin and the possibility that the war might end with it slicing off a large and crucial part of its neighbor's territory.