JOINT BASE ELMENDORF RICHARDSON, Alaska –
At 2:56 p.m. (AKST), the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Region, in support of NORAD, positively identified and tracked two Tu-142 Russian maritime patrol aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.
The aircraft are operating in international airspace but have not entered United States or Canadian sovereign airspace.
NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based radars, airborne radar and fighter aircraft to track and identify aircraft and determine the appropriate response. This deliberate identification and monitoring of aircraft entering a U.S. or Canadian ADIZ demonstrates how NORAD executes its continuous aerospace warning and aerospace control missions for the United States and Canada.
Despite COVID-19, NORAD has taken deliberate measures and remains fully capable of conducting our aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning missions.