An increase in Russian military planes and vessels near American territory has pressured the US to relocate 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in Alaska.
Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels – including two submarines – have come close to the ‘last frontier’ in the past week as Russia and China have conducted joint military drills, beginning on September 10.
A Pentagon spokesperson said there was no cause for alarm as the aircrafts have yet to breach U.S. airspace.
‘It’s also something that we’re prepared to respond to,’ he added.
Russia and China began the military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic oceans on September 10.
As part of a ‘force projection operation,’ the U.S. Army sent soldiers to Shemya Island – some 1,200 miles southwest of the Alaskan capitol – on September 12.
The soldiers brought two HIMARS to the derelict island and the U.S. military deployed a guided missile destroyer and a Coast Guard vessel.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command tracked and detected Russian military planes operating off Alaska over a four-day span with two planes each day beginning on September 11.
The planes operated in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone – a zone beyond U.S. sovereign airspace – but within which the U.S. expects aircraft to identify themselves.
The Russian Embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The number of such invasions have fluctuated yearly, NORAD reports. The average was six to seven interceptions a year though last year, 26 Russian planes came into the Alaska zone and so far this year there have been 25.
In such encounters it is common for the U.S. military to provide photos of the Russian warplanes being escorted by either U.S. or Canadian planes.
However none were released in the past week and a NORAD spokeswoman, Canadian Maj. Jennie Derenzis, declined to say whether jets were scrambled to intercept the Russian planes.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday its homeland security vessel – the 418-foot Stratton – was on routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea when it tracked four Russian Federation Navy vessels about 60 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.
The Russian vessels, which included two submarines, a frigate and a tugboat, had crossed the maritime boundary into U.S. waters to avoid sea ice, which is permitted under international rules and customs.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan called for a larger military presence in the Aleutians while advocating for the U.S. to respond with strength to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘In the past two years, we´ve seen joint Russian-Chinese air and naval exercises off our shores and a Chinese spy balloon floating over our communities,’ Sullivan said in a statement.
‘These escalating incidents demonstrate the critical role the Arctic plays in great power competition between the U.S., Russia, and China.’
Sullivan said the U.S. Navy should reopen its shuttered base at Adak, located in the Aleutians. Naval Air Facility Adak was closed in 1997.
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