F-16s Intercept Russian Planes Near Alaska

“And now before giving you the details of the battle, I bring you a warning: Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.”

That, of course, is a quote from Ned “Scotty” Scott from the 1951 sci-fi classic The Thing From Another World. And ever since a Chinese spy balloon took its sweet time inventorying America before eventually being taken down (emphasis on “eventually”), we have been craning our necks skyward. The list of things boogaloo-ing around the air has increased from spy balloons to include geometric shapes that haven’t exactly been identified but are not a problem, or so we are told.

Add to that the fact that on Monday, American F-16s intercepted a Russian bomber and fighters over international waters near Alaska. Stars and Stripes reported:

This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative,” according to the statement from NORAD, the joint U.S.-Canadian military organization charged with protecting airspace over the two nations. “NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it.

Stars and Stripes said that the aircraft were in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, which reaches about 200 miles beyond the U.S. coast. It is expected that aircraft entering the zone identify themselves. According to NORAD, these kinds of incidents have occurred around 15 times per year in the past. NORAD also asserted that the episode was not related to the earlier incidents of two unidentified aerial phenomena being shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace. The White House has assured Americans that the objects, whatever they were, did not pose a threat. The paper also reported that the increase in “aerial incidents” can be attributed to improved radar efforts following the Chinese balloon incursion two weeks ago. So it could be a case of seeing things that previously had gone unobserved.

Saber-rattling and espionage between the U.S. and its enemies are nothing new. One of the most memorable incidents occurred in May of 1960 when the USSR shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet airspace. The Russians captured the pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The USSR later released Powers in exchange for a Soviet spy, and Eisenhower eventually admitted that the CIA had been conducting aerial surveillance for several years. We spy on them; they spy on us.

Monday’s incident may be business as usual for NORAD. But it comes on the heels of news that Russia’s Northern Fleet has put to sea with tactical nuclear warheads for the first time in 30 years. Newsweek said that on Monday, the Norwegian Intelligence Service reported that “A central part of the nuclear capabilities is located on the North Fleet’s submarines and surface vessels… In addition, Russia has, among other things, underwater capabilities, anti-satellite weapons, and cyber tools that can threaten Norway and NATO.” The report further states:

With weakened conventional capability, the importance of nuclear weapons for Russia has increased significantly. The Russian strategic and regional deterrent forces have thus become increasingly important for the Russian military power.

The report added that Russia will likely continue to maintain and develop its nuclear arsenal.

It sounds like the Cold War all over again. Of course, in the Cold War, Kennedy, for whatever his moral failings may have been, stared down Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Contrast that with the Biden administration, which is already up to its neck in the Ukrainian war. It is further depleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, has weakened our fighting forces, and of course, showed a legendary and arguably criminal level of incompetence during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And don’t forget Iran establishing a presence in the Panama Canal. And then there is China, which is a whole column in itself. Biden is no John Kennedy.

Conservatives and classical liberals are not the only ones who have observed the economic, social, and military decay in the U.S. Our enemies smell weakness and blood in the water. And just like in the ’50s and ’60s, when Cold War nerves had people on edge and the U.S. became fascinated with UFOs, Americans have good reason to watch the skies and everything else.