US Jets Scrambled for Russian Spy Planes 4 Times in One Week

The United States scrambled military fighter jets to track and intercept a Russian spy plane off the coast of Alaska four times in less than one week, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

NORAD on Tuesday tracked a Russian IL-20 COOT, a reconnaissance aircraft that hails from the Cold War, flying within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, which is an area of international airspace off the coast of Alaska where aircraft are required to identify themselves. This was the fourth separate occasion NORAD tracked a Russian plane. The first was detected on Aug. 20, the second on Aug. 21 and the third Aug. 24. Each time this type of aircraft was detected, NORAD scrambled fighter jets to track the planes.

"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 military command said in a statement. "NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”

The statement added that an Air Defense Identification Zone "begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security."

According to U.S. officials, "The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace."

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