U.S. fighter jets tracked a Russian reconnaissance plane near Alaska on Tuesday (August 26), marking the fourth such incident in less than a week. According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Russian IL-20 COOT, a Cold War-era aircraft, was detected in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). This area of international airspace requires aircraft identification for national security purposes.

In response to the latest detection, NORAD scrambled an E-3 Sentry , two F-16s, and a KC-135 tanker to monitor the Russian plane. The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace. NORAD noted that such Russian activity in the Alaskan ADIZ is regular and not considered a threat.

The recent surge in R

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