Late last month, Russian and Chinese bombers staged a joint patrol over the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea near the coast of Alaska, prompting American and Canadian forces to respond.
Two Russian TU-95 “Bear” bombers and two Chinese Xi’an H-6 bombers were tracked flying in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24, 2024, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The four bombers were swiftly intercepted by six NORAD fighter jets, including Two CF-18 Hornets, two F-35 Lighting II, and two F-16 Fighting Falcons.
It might all sound a bit heated, but NORAD was keen to quell any panic, noting that the planes did not enter sovereign airspace and the activity is “not seen as a threat.”
Russian authorities have added the flight was “conducted in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace.”
NORAD forces intercepting a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” bomber.
Image credit: US Department of Defense
Although this kind of activity in the ADIZ is not totally unprecedented, the joint exercise is significant because it shows closer military cooperation between China and Russia, the latter of which has become increasingly isolated since it was hit with international sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The two countries have the world’s sixth-longest international border, over 4,200 kilometers (2,600 miles) long, and share some major geopolitical interests, despite their long and complicated history.
It’s the first time China and Russia have conducted a joint air patrol in this region, plus it’s the first time that Chinese and Russian aircraft have taken off from the same airbase, a site in northeast Russia.
“Intercepts in the Alaska ADIZ, however, are far from unusual: on average, NORAD conducted six to seven intercepts of Russian aircraft annually between 2007 and 2023. While the presence of Chinese bombers in this latest patrol is new, the operation follows a similar pattern to previous Russian patrols near Alaska, with aircraft operating in international airspace and comporting to international law and practice,” said experts from the American think-tank Center for Strategic & International Studies.
“The real significance of the patrol is in what it demonstrates about growing cooperation between China and Russia and intensifying competition between the United States and those adversaries,” they added.
There’s been provocation from “the West” too. In July 2024, the US Navy led its biennial “Rim of the Pacific Exercise” (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise. China has been invited to previous RIMPAC events, but they were excluded in 2022 and 2024 due to, what the US calls, “increasingly coercive and aggressive behavior.” The giant military exercise is essentially a flex of power in the Pacific Ocean, a contentious part of the world where China has been building up influence in recent times.
NATO also held a major summit in early July 2024. The concluding declaration of the meeting described China as a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine through its so-called ‘no limits’ partnership and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”
These certainly are interesting times to be alive…
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