NORAD detected and intercepted four Russian warplanes that were approaching Alaska on Monday, including TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and SU-35 fighter aircraft that were within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Officials said they sent two F-16 fighter jets, two F-35A fighter jets, two KC-135 Stratotankers and an E-3 Sentry to intercept the Russian aircraft in the ADIZ—the international airspace outside the U.S. and Canada near Alaska.
The incident is not related to the suspicious objects shot down over Alaska and Canada last weekend, NORAD said, and is not considered “a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative” because Russian activity is fairly normal in the ADIZ. Read more at The Hill.
Shortly after learning that four Russian warplanes were intercepted by NORAD all in one day, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, contacted Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers – who has the fewest career interceptions per hundred attempts by a quarterback – and asked him to come down to Russia to teach the Russian pilots how to avoid being intercepted, according to senior Russian intelligence officials who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.
Mr. Putin reportedly had some harsh words for the Russian airforce coaching staff on Tuesday.
During a meeting with team officials, Putin told the airforce coaching staff that four interceptions in one day was “egregious and totally unacceptable”.
“Hopefully, Mr. Rodgers can fix the problem,” Putin reportedly said.
“If the problem is a matter of technique and mechanics, then Mr. Rodgers is the right man to fix the problem, that’s for sure,” he said. “But if the problem is that we have a team of pilots who are lacking raw talent and athletic ability, then those crazy airborne interceptions will keep piling on and on, and we’ll lose every battle that we play.”