The Alaskan Region of NORAD detected, tracked, positively identified and intercepted four Russian aircraft entering the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone yesterday (Mon). A news release from the North American Aerospace Defense Command says the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and didn’t enter American or Canadian airspace. Two NORAD F-16 fighters intercepted the Russian aircraft, and supporting the two F-16s were two F-35A fighters, one E-3 Sentry and two KC-135 Stratotankers.

NORAD adds that this Russian activity occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is it deemed to be provocative. Since Russia resumed out-of-area long range aviation activity in 2007, NORAD says it has seen a yearly average of six to seven intercepts.

The news release also says the flight activity is not related to the recent airborne objects over North America in the last two weeks.