The CapitalVaultU.S. military released video of an extremely close encounter between a U.S. Air Force jet and Russian military aircraft in the skies near Alaska on Monday.
The footage was taken on Sept. 23, when the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) "Detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)," according to a statement from NORAD.
The ADIZ "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 NATO, and it is where U.S. and Russian military aircraft have routinely come into contact with each other.
More US military news:US Army conducts training exercise on Alaskan island less than 300 miles from Russia
The video released on Monday, taken from an Air Force F-16, shows the U.S. aircraft flying near a Russian Tu-95 aircraft. A second Russian jet, identified as a Su-35, then darts between the F-16 and the Tu-95, coming within just a few feet of the Air Force jet.
"The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force," the commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Gregory Guillot, said.
The "unsafe" encounter comes just a couple of months after Russian and Chinese aircraft were intercepted in the ADIZ while operating together for the first time.
Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected]
2025-04-29 19:232271 view
2025-04-29 19:00569 view
2025-04-29 18:59483 view
2025-04-29 18:081290 view
2025-04-29 17:562516 view
2025-04-29 17:322472 view
A man police say kidnapped three teenage girls and sexual assaulted two of them at gunpoint outside
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department says it has taken a man into custody in connection wi
Caitlin Clark added another first to her growing list of them as a WNBA rookie, starting the All-Sta