Two nuclear-capable Russian Tu-95 Bear H bombers reportedly flew into the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) near Alaska on April 22, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
NORAD spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis declined to confirm the incident to the Beacon, but said that no U.S. jets were dispatched to intercept the bombers.
The intrusion in the U.S. ADIZ, if it did occur, would be the first from Russia this year, and likely signals the beginning of Russia's long-range aviation training cycle, officials told the Beacon.
Some analysts believe the Russian flights are Moscow's way of flexing its muscle in a time of heightened tension due to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. "They're obviously messaging us," Air Force Col. Frank Flores, who is responsible for 14 radar stations on the Alaskan coast, told the Los Angeles Times in April.
An ADIZ, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, is a transition zone in international territory in which aircraft are identified by air traffic control and defense authorities before entering into sovereign airspace. The zones don't pertain to military aircraft and only commercial aircraft intending to enter U.S. sovereign airspace are required to identify themselves, according to the U.S. Navy's Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations.
"These flights often enter the U.S. or Canadian [air defense identification zone], but have not entered U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace," Davis said, adding that the flights are indeed considered legal.
He told the Beacon that last year, Russian bombers were intercepted at least six times by U.S. and Canadian jets, and Russian long-range aircraft were detected near U.S. airspace on 10 different occasions.
"We believe that if the Russian military filed flight plans and self-identified - by 'squawking and talking' - the overall safety of flight would be enhanced," Davis said. "And it could also reduce the number of times we scramble fighters jets to intercept the aircraft, thereby reducing the potential for miscalculation."
In 2013, without first informing China ahead of time, U.S. bombers flew into China's then-newly established ADIZ in the East China Sea, in what The Wall Street Journal described as a clear challenge to China.
In April, a Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. spy plane flying over the Baltic Sea. Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright described the interception as "unsafe and unprofessional due to the aggressive maneuvers it performed in close proximity to their aircraft and its high rate of speed" and said the U.S. would file an official complaint with Moscow, reported CNN.
