The US military has moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian chain of western Alaska amid a recent increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching American territory. Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conducted joint military drills. None of the planes breached US airspace and a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday there was no cause for alarm. "It's not the first time that we've seen the Russians and the Chinese flying, you know, in the vicinity, and that's something that we obviously closely monitor, and it's also something that we're prepared to respond to," Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said, per the AP.
As part of a "force projection operation," the Army on Sept. 12 sent the soldiers to Shemya Island, where the US Air Force maintains an air station that dates to World War II. The soldiers brought two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the US military also deployed a guided missile destroyer and a Coast Guard vessel to the western region of Alaska as Russia and China began the "Ocean-24" military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic oceans Sept. 10. NORAD said it detected and tracked Russian military planes operating off Alaska over a four-day span. There were two planes each on Sept. 11, Sept. 13, Sept. 14, and Sept. 15.
NORAD says the number of such incursions has fluctuated, with an average six to seven intercepts a year. Last year, 26 Russian planes came into the Alaska zone, and so far this year, there have been 25. The Coast Guard said Sunday a vessel was on routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea when it tracked four Russian Federation Navy vessels. The Russian vessels—two submarines, a frigate, and a tugboat—had crossed the maritime boundary into US waters to avoid sea ice, which is permitted. Meanwhile, Sullivan wants a larger military presence in the Aleutians. "In the past two years, we've seen joint Russian-Chinese air and naval exercises off our shores and a Chinese spy balloon floating over our communities," Sullivan said. "These escalating incidents demonstrate the critical role the Arctic plays in great power competition between the US, Russia, and China."
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