The U.S. military shot down four Russian aircraft flying over Alaska on Monday after a foreign object was also recently taken down in the area.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed in a statement that four Russian aircraft were intercepted above Alaska.
JUST IN: North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted 4 Russian aircraft above Alaska yesterday.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 14, 2023
Things will continue to get worse.
“The Alaskan Region of NORAD detected, tracked, positively identified and intercepted four Russian aircraft entering and operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on February 13, 2023,” NORAD said.
This comes after the Pentagon said on Sunday that it shot down an octagonal object near the Canadian border. U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to determine the nature of the three most recent objects, how they maintain their altitude, or their origin.
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said. “I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out.”
Since the Chinese high-altitude balloon was shot down earlier this month, the military has been shooting down several foreign objects over the U.S. and Canada. On Friday, the U.S. shot down another high-altitude “object” flying at 40,000 feet over the frozen waters off Alaska.
The recent string of incidents raised questions about the spate of unusual objects that have appeared over North American skies in recent weeks and raised tensions with China.
“We need the facts about where they are originating from, what their purpose is, and why their frequency is increasing,” said Democratic Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, one of several lawmakers who applauded the military for downing the object.
The Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. A senior defense official confirmed that it was flying over sensitive sites to collect information.
As for Russia, three Russian military aircraft were also taken down by two Dutch F-35 fighters after being spotted flying above Poland on Monday.
“The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad,” a translation of the statement read. “After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A that was escorted by two Su-27 Flankers. The Dutch F-35s escorted the formation from a distance and handed over the escort to NATO partners.”
