This week, Chinese and Russian bombers carrying nuclear weapons were flying off the coast of Alaska when the United States and Canada gathered fighter planes.
The Chinese H-6 bomber made history by entering Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the first time, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
A buffer zone encircling a country’s sovereign airspace is known as an ADIZ. Although it is not a war crime, sending military aircraft into another country’s area of defensive interest (ADIZ) is seen as provocative since fighters are often dispatched to monitor the approaching aircraft and make sure they pose no danger.
For example, China often launches fighters into Taiwan’s Area of Defense (ADIZ), pushing the much smaller Taiwanese air force to its limits in retaliation—a strategy known as “gray zone” warfare.
Although Chinese bombers don’t seem to have followed Russian bombers in Alaska, NORAD stated that they have previously penetrated the state’s air defense zone (ADIZ), most recently in May.
NORAD “tracked, detected, and intercepted” two PRC [People’s Republic of China] H-6 and two Russian TU-95 military aircraft in the Alaskan ADIZ. Meanwhile, Canada launched CF-18 jets, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s equivalent of the American F/A-18 Hornet, the United States dispatched F-16 and F-35 planes to observe their actions.
NoRAD stated, “The Russian and PRC planes did not cross American or Canadian sovereign territory; they stayed in international airspace.”
The statement went on to say, “NORAD will continue to watch competitor activity close to North America and meet any presence with our own presence. This Russian and PRC actions in the Alaska ADIZ is not considered a threat.”
The Chinese and Russian aircraft were on a combined patrol and took off from the same Russian airfield, a source told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Wednesday.
At a news briefing on Thursday, Col. Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, acknowledged the existence of the “strategic joint air patrol.”
Since 2019, the two military forces have coordinated eight air strategic combined patrols. It strengthened substantive collaboration and strategic mutual confidence between the two air forces, according to Zhang, while also putting their coordination to the test.
He emphasized, “This operation had nothing to do with the present international or regional situation, did not target any third parties, and was in accordance with applicable international law and practice.”
Beijing coined the phrase “near-arctic state” to give itself more leverage in the exploitation of Arctic resources, and China has now proclaimed itself to be one. It has discussed turning the Arctic into a “polar Silk Road” as part of its infrastructure plan.
Prior to the Russian-Chinese combined bomber patrol inside Alaska’s air defense zone (ADIZ), the Pentagon expressed its concerns on Monday about the increasing level of Russian and Chinese cooperation in the Arctic.
A Department of Defense (DOD) assessment stated, “Their growing alignment in the region is of concern, even if there are still considerable areas of dispute between the PRC and Russia.”
According to the research, China hopes to “gain more influence and access, take advantage of Arctic area resources, and play a broader role in regional governance” by leveraging “changing dynamics in the Arctic.”
