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U.S. military fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday to track a Russian spy plane detected flying near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
It was the fourth time in less than a week that the military command has detected and tracked a Russian IL-20 COOT, a Cold War-era reconnaissance aircraft, in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), a stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security, according to NORAD.
The same type of Russian aircraft flew over the region on Aug. 20, Aug. 21 and Aug. 24, the military command said.
In each of the four instances, NORAD responded with its own fighter jets to track the spy plane.
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A Russian IL-20M, like the one pictured above, was detected flying in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone on Tuesday, the fourth time in less than a week, NORAD said. (Nikita Shchyukin/AFP/Getty, File)
In the latest detection on Tuesday, NORAD scrambled an E-3 Sentry, two F-16s and one KC-135 tanker to track the spy plane.
NORAD said the Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, adding that such Russian activity in the Alaskan ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.
“NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions,” the military command said. “NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”
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In July, NORAD shared images of U.S. fighter jets intercepting Russian military aircraft inside the ADIZ.
Other detections of Russian military aircraft in the ADIZ this year happened in April and twice in February, when NORAD said an F-35 Lightning II fighter jet intercepted two Russian Tu-95 and 2 Su-35 military aircraft in the ADIZ.
In all these previous instances, NORAD said the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace.
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Earlier in January, NORAD said it sent a combat air patrol unit to monitor multiple Russian military aircraft activity in the Arctic.
Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.