Russian aircraft spotted and tracked flying near Alaska again, NORAD says

Russian military planes were detected flying near the coast of Alaska on Tuesday,  the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, marking the latest in a string of sightings in recent months.

The planes were not considered a threat, as Russian activity in that airspace happens regularly, according to the military command. U.S. officials have not specified the type of aircraft spotted this week or how many of them were there. CBS News has reached out to NORAD for more information.

The aircraft flew through a section of international airspace called the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is a designated area just outside of U.S. and Canadian sovereign space that both countries surveil closely for national security reasons. Aircraft are also expected to identify themselves when entering this region. 

NORAD said it tracked the Russian planes after detecting them and confirmed that they remained in the international zone.

“NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions,” the command said in a news release, adding that it “remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”

Military officials in the U.S. have reported the presence of Russian planes in the ADIZ a handful of times already since the beginning of the year. 

In April, NORAD said the command had detected Russian warplanes flying off the coast of Alaska, within the bounds of the defense identification zone. 

Less than three months earlier, the U.S. and Canada scrambled fighter jets to follow Russian warplanes seen over the Arctic, in an incident that drew some scrutiny as the region became a source of increasing geopolitical tension. The U.S. military said it later dispatched two F-16 fighter jets from Alaska to Greenland, to “forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic.” 

In September 2024, NORAD posted dramatic video of a Russian fighter jet flying “within just a few feet” of NORAD aircraft off the coast of Alaska. At the time, a U.S. general said “the conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all.”  

Two months before that incident, the U.S. military said it intercepted four Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace off the Alaskan coast.