US F-22 Jets Intercept 6 Russian Warplanes 55 Miles Off The Alaskan Coast

Yesterday it was the UK which scrambled a squadron of Typhoon jets when two Russian Tu-95 “Bear” Bombers had gotten too close to its shores, even if still located in international space. Then overnight, none other than the US did the same when two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes just over 50 miles away from the western coast of Alaska, military officials said Friday, among which identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and the same two “Bear” long-range bombers, which are known to carry tactical ICBMs with nuclear warheads among their arsenal.
According to the AP, they looped south and returned to their base in Russia after the U. S. jets were scrambled.
Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said the U. S. jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles from the Alaskan coast at about 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.
Additionally, at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two of the long-range bombers about 40 nautical miles off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.
In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles from the coastline. They did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 09/20/2014.