Key Points and Summary – On July 22, U.S. and Canadian jets under NORAD command intercepted a formation of two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers and two Su-35 fighters after they entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
-A robust force including F-35 and F-16 fighters shadowed the Russian aircraft for over three hours in international airspace.
-While officially deemed “not a threat,” these are the same type of Tu-95 bombers Russia uses to launch devastating cruise missile attacks against Ukrainian cities, making the flight a clear show of force and a return to Cold War-style provocations.
Russian Bombers Get Close to America and Canada
WARSAW, POLAND – On 22 July, a combined formation of two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers and two Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) conducted flight operations off the coast of Alaska.
At one point, this formation entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), triggering a response from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The command of the joint US-Canada alliance dispatched 10 aircraft with orders to “positively identify, monitor, intercept, and escort them out of the Alaskan ADIZ,” according to more than one NORAD official.
The Alaskan ADIZ is located within international airspace and encompasses an area that extends from sovereign U.S. territory. It is used as a buffer zone for the air defense of the North American continent.
The intercept of these Russian aircraft was performed by two US Air Force (USAF) fighters assigned to the NORAD mission. The entire incident occurred over three hours, according to NORAD officials who spoke to the USAF professional association’s publication, Air & Space Forces Magazine.
At the point that the two nuclear-capable Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Su-35 Flanker fighter jets began operating in the Alaskan ADIZ, the aircraft sent to intercept them included two USAF F-35s and four F-16s. These fighters were operating alongside support aircraft that included one E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) command and control platform and three KC-135 tankers, all of which were actively involved in the mission.
In Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) stated the bombers had engaged in a 15-hour round-trip mission over the Bering Sea.
This flight of Russian aircraft was within the ADIZ for 3 hours and 15 minutes, according to a NORAD official.
Those Bombers Just Like the Cold War Days
The entire time, the Russian bombers and their fighter escorts were operating in international airspace.
They did not violate either US or Canadian sovereign airspace, according to an official NORAD statement from the command’s 22 July press release.
“This Russian activity in the contiguous US/Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” the command stated.
NORAD noted that the airspace covered by the ADIZ “requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security” of both the joint alliance partners.
In September 2024, another Russian Su-35 fighter also flying escort with a Tu-95, cut across the front of a US Air Force F-16 conducting a routine intercept of Russian aircraft in the Alaskan ADIZ. This involved the Su-35 flying directly across the American jet’s nose, performing what is known in the combat aircraft community as a “headbutt” maneuver.
“The conduct of [this] one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” NORAD commander USAG Gen. Gregory M. Guillot said at the time.
His comments came as part of a statement issued following the Su-35’s confrontation with the F-16.
The models of Russian aircraft in the July 22 intercept off the coast of Alaska involved the same mix of bombers and fighters as the September 2024 incident.
NORAD did not indicate there was anything unusual in the movements of the Russian aircraft during this latest encounter between the two air forces.
Russia vs. America In the Sky Could Get Dangerous
Confrontations of this nature were known for taking place regularly during the Cold War.
During the 1990s and into the early years of the 21st century, when relations with Washington were relatively friendly, these flights were curtailed, and intercepts of this type were rare – if they occurred at all.
However, around 2006, the culmination of what Russian President Vladimir Putin interpreted as the US becoming a malign superpower that was hostile to Russia’s interests prompted the former KGB Lt. Col. to resume them in 2007.
The following year, in 2008, Putin invaded the Georgian Republic, the first of several incursions by Moscow of neighboring nations that had been former Soviet republics.
How NORAD, ADIZ Intercepts, And Russia’s War on Ukraine Cities
“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 command said in the statement issued on 22 July. “NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America,” the statement continued
Flights that take place in international airspace, but within the designated ADIZ of one nation or another, are a common occurrence.
The US military conducts such flights, most notably in the area that encompasses the disputed islands in the South China Sea.
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) naval force, the PLAN, routinely protests these flights and often warns US military aircraft in real time to leave the area, and at times indirectly threatens them.
The US always responds to such warnings by stating its aircraft are operating lawfully in international airspace.
The Chinese protests are ironic, said more than one military aviator who spoke to National Security Journal, in that PLAN AF and PLAAF aircraft constantly enter the ADIZ of both the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan and Japan.
The ROC incidents often involve huge numbers of Chinese combat platforms. In August 2024, a Chinese Y-9 electronic intercept and intelligence (ELINT) platform not only entered Japan’s ADIZ but also violated Japan’s sovereign airspace for around two minutes before returning to international territory.
A Show Of Force?
This long-range flight of two Tu-95s comes slightly less than two months after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out Operation Spiderweb. This was a massive wave of suicide drone attacks on several Russian bomber airfields, including one aerodrome deep into the eastern region of Russia.
The drone strikes destroyed or badly damaged beyond repair at least six Tu-95s while they were still on the ground.
The Tu-95 is used regularly to launch cruise missiles into Ukrainian cities, causing numerous civilian deaths in the process.
US intelligence estimated that these drone attacks hit at least 20 bombers of different types and that the aircraft that are still repairable will take years before they can all return to service.
Tu-95: The Bombers Hitting Ukraine and Near Alaska
Putin’s constant bombing of Ukrainian cities has created no small degree of frustration for US President Donald Trump. Putin has repeatedly stalled or obstructed any progress made by the White House in peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
This has prompted Trump to now create an arrangement with NATO in which the US will backfill weapons and military aid sent to Ukraine, such as the famous Patriot PAC-3 air and missile defense system. Russian Tu-95s have attacked Ukrainian cities and other civilian targets constantly during the more than three-year-long full-scale war.
The usual pattern is for Russia to fire these air-launched missiles in combination with hundreds of one-way drones.
The strategy is to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses with too many targets to engage simultaneously, allowing some of the missiles to get through eventually.
This month, the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC reports that the Ukrainian civilian death toll is increasing dramatically. June 2025 attacks were responsible for the highest monthly casualties among the Ukrainian civilian population in more than three years.
According to new data collected by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, these losses have amounted to 232 deaths with a further 1343 Ukrainians injured.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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doyle-3
July 27, 2025 at 10:45 pm
Thissa one of the biggest craps i have ever come across on this site.
Russian bombers have always been flying across or through international maritime space for as long as i can recall, though i am truly no global air flight expert or pundit.
American bombers do exactly the same thing also, even to the point of landing or stopping at sensitive locations a long the way, to convey or broadcast covert geopolitical-military messages.
Worse, american bombers, especially the ultra massive large big b-52 types have in numerous past operations, deliberately flown in a manner highly likely to ignite or even provoke ww3.
During ronald reagan’s administration, b-52 bombers used to fly straight toward soviet air-space only to veer away at the last possible minutes. Perhaps the USAF was collecting or attempting to collect soviet radar reactions and relevant soviet technical radar data.
Even in richard nixon’s time, his b-52 bombers did largely the same highly notorious air mafia thing.
During 1968-1969, the nam war was at a fever pitch (in nam), but in US, there was huge massive raging opposition against the war from the public.
Nixon thus wanted to begin US withdrawal from nam but without jeopardising the pro-US nguyen van thieu crony govt.
So, in 1969, (the actual date was oct 10 1969), to warn the USSR not to take advantage of the situation, Nixon sent 18 (eighteen) b-52 bombers loaded with nukes to proceed to soviet air-space to make his point.
On october 10 1969.
Today, now, right now, USAF and USN bombers and big heavy large multi-engined aircraft regularly fly near the coasts of rival nations with the main objective of ‘lighting up’ their coastal radar units in order to illicitly create a map of their coastal ew defense.
As usual, rival fighters regularly fly up to chase them away, resulting in US State Dept spokesmen wailing and moaning about ‘unprofessional’ conduct and ‘illegal’ interceptions.
Duh.