US: Russian fighter jet hits US jet off US coast, watch
US: In a video provided by the US Department of Defense on Monday, a Russian fighter jet is shown doing a risky maneuver that is aimed at an American aircraft off the coast of Alaska.
The Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is where the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reports that the aerial contact took place on September 23. During that encounter, NORAD monitored and identified four Russian military aircraft operating in international airspace.
North America’s aerospace warning and control is under the jurisdiction of NORAD, a binational military agency including the United States and Canada. In the sake of national security, an ADIZ is a designated area of international airspace where every aircraft must be quickly identified.
To monitor aircraft and provide information for appropriate action, NORAD uses a layered defensive network that includes fighter aircraft, ground-based and aerial radars, and satellites.
Captured from the cockpit of an F-16 fighter aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force, the spectacular clip saw a Russian Su-35 doing a hazardous maneuver as the American warplane was intercepting a Russian Tu-95 bomber. NORAD described the move as thus.
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According to the NORAD-released video and images, the American pilot was forced to move his aircraft to the right when the Su-35, which was flying into a narrow space between the F-16 and the Tu-95, suddenly emerged on the left side of the armed fighter and quickly took off.
The head of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, which is in charge of homeland security, General Gregory Guillot, said, “The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all—not what you’d see in a professional air force.”
He said that at the moment, NORAD planes conducted a disciplined and safe intercept. Since Russia frequently conducted operations in the Alaskan ADIZ, NORAD said that the Russian aircraft did not cross Canadian or American sovereign airspace and were not considered a danger.
According to a veteran Russian air force pilot cited by Russia’s official news outlet Tass, the Su-35 pilot shown “extreme courage” as the plane attempted to eject the F-16.
Four occurrences of Russian military aircraft flying in the Alaskan ADIZ were reported by NORAD after the start of Russian exercise Ocean-2024 on September 10 and ending one week later. Over the oceans around Alaska, a sizable portion of airspace is included in the air defense zone.
The contact on September 23 is the sixth event that NORAD has been made aware of this month.
The August 2020 event over the Black Sea, in which an American B-52 bomber experienced turbulence after a Russian Su-27 fighter jet passed within 100 feet of it, has similarities to the recent run-in between US and Russian military aircraft in Alaska.
Risky intercepts are not new; one such instance occurred in April 2001 on Hainan Island when a Chinese fighter aircraft and a U.S. Navy surveillance plane crashed, killing a Chinese pilot known for his “cowboy maneuvers.”
