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Two Russian military reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted and escorted for hours near Alaska by US and Canadian air force fighter jets, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.<\/p>\n
The two Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft on Monday entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, sparking the deployment of several NORAD aircraft including fighter jets, the command said.<\/p>\n
The Russian aircraft entered and remained in the air defense identification zone, a security perimeter in international airspace, for about four hours.<\/p>\n
They came as close as 50 nautical miles to the Alaskan coast, a NORAD statement said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
NORAD deployed F-22 and CF-18 fighters supported by a KC-135 Stratotanker and an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft to track the Russians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Russian aircraft did not enter United States or Canadian sovereign airspace,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
NORAD is a joint US-Canadian command focused on the defense of the North American airspace.<\/p>\n