Russia and China Conduct First Joint Bomber Patrol Near Alaska
Russia and China flew strategic bombers in a joint patrol exercise near Alaska, the first time they had conducted air drills together in that area, a pointed signal to Washington of their deepening military ties.
Two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese Xian H-6 planes flew over the waters of the Chukchi and Bering seas, with Russian fighter jets guiding them, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday in a statement. The joint flight lasted longer than five hours, the ministry added. It took place on Wednesday.
“During the flight, Russian and Chinese crews worked through issues of cooperation at all stages of the air patrol in a new area of joint operations,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. The ministry said the drill was “not directed against third countries.”
The exercise prompted the United States and Canada to scramble their fighter jets to carry out what is known as an “intercept” in military parlance, or when a country flies its jets alongside foreign aircraft as a show of defense.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a Pentagon news conference that the aircraft were “closely monitored” and “didn’t enter our airspace. I think the closest point of approach was about 200 miles off of our coast.”
The joint air drills near Alaska, involving bombers capable of delivering nuclear missiles, come as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia deepens his military’s ties with China, in part as a signal to the West that he will not remain isolated over his invasion of Ukraine. In addition to other joint drills and sales of Russian arms to China, Mr. Putin has grown to rely on a flow of dual-use goods from China to sustain his war effort.
Though Moscow and Beijing carried out their first joint patrol of strategic bombers in 2019, military exercises have increased in frequency since then. They are designed in part to send a message of defiance to Washington and its allies, but also to give the two militaries practice in operating together, should they one day need to fight jointly in a war.
For Russia, the display of Chinese support is part of a broader effort to end American dominance on the world stage and respond to Washington’s regular schedule of exercises with its own allies.
“It’s still in the signaling stage,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said of Russia’s actions. “And the signaling is, ‘Hey, U.S., we are not alone. We are having a partner that has a huge nuclear arsenal.’”
The Chinese and Russian bombers didn’t cross into American or Canadian airspace during Wednesday’s joint patrol, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint military operation between the United States and Canada that defends the continent’s airspace.
NORAD said the Russian and Chinese aircraft were not seen as a threat.
The Russian and Chinese bombers were flying in an area known as the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ. It is just outside U.S. airspace around the Alaskan coast, where the United States and Canada require the identification of aircraft for national security reasons.
The U.S. and Canadian militaries have intercepted six to seven Russian war planes a year on average since 2007 within the zone, NORAD said in a statement last year. But the area is far afield for Chinese war planes.
The first joint bomber patrol between Russia and China in 2019 took place between South Korea and Japan. Moscow and Beijing have conducted seven more since then, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China’s Defense Ministry, said, according to The Associated Press.
The last such patrol took place in Asia in December.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Washington.
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