U.S. fighter jets intercept Russian spy plane off of Alaska
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, reported Sunday it detected an IL-20 COOT reconnaissance aircraft flying through the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ.
NORAD responded by sending two F-16 fighter jets, an E-3 Sentry radar plane and two refueling tankers to intercept and make a visual confirmation.
The Russian aircraft stayed within the ADIZ and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace.
The ADIZ is located within international airspace but lies close enough to American and Canadian sovereign airspace to require "the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security," according to NORAD.
NORAD also noted such activity in the ADIZ is a regular occurrence that does not constitute a threat.
A Russian IL-20 COOT was also detected in the ADIZ last week on Wednesday and Thursday and took the same responsive measures.
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