Russia is at it again, playing old Cold War games. In the latest, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) aircraft were scrambled to intercept two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Su-35 Flanker fighters that were trailing their coats down the Alaskan coast, flying not in United States airspace but in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
A NORAD news release issued Wednesday says the four Russian aircraft remained in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone throughout the 15-hour flight and did not enter sovereign U.S. airspace. A NORAD spokesperson on Thursday identified the aircraft as two Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Su-35 Flanker fighter jets.
The Tu-95 “Bear,” we might note, is a nuclear-capable aircraft, not that these examples were liable to be carrying any hot rocks. It’s unclear which variant of the Bear these aircraft were; the…
