Canadian and U.S. fighter jets scrambled to monitor Russian aircraft in Arctic

A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-18 Hornet performs at the Aero Gatineau Ottawa airshow in Gatineau on Friday, September 15, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle)

Fighter jets from Canada and the U.S. were scrambled this week to monitor Russian aircraft operating in the Arctic.

According to a press release from Norad, multiple Russian military aircraft were tracked earlier this week near North America, but they did not violate Canadian or American airspace.

As a response, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets were launched to patrol northern Canada while two U.S. F-35 jets from Alaska monitored the coast near the Yukon border. They were joined by three KC-135 air-to-air refuelling tankers and a U.S. E-3 surveillance plane.

“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter Alaskan or Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones or sovereign airspace,” the Norad press release explained. “This activity is not seen as a threat.”

Air defence identification zones are areas surrounding American and Canadian airspace where the identification of aircraft is required in the interest of national security.

In an email to CTVNews.ca, a Norad spokesperson confirmed the incident occurred on Jan. 28 and that the Canadian fighter jets departed from the CFB Bagotville military base in Quebec.

According to Russian news agency TASS, the country is holding large-scale drills in the Arctic between Jan. 20 and 31. Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets were also deployed from Alaska to Greenland to bolster Norad’s presence in the Arctic.

Short for North American Aerospace Defense Command, Norad is a binational defence group that was founded in 1958 by the U.S. and Canada to protect the continent from incoming threats like Russian bombers and missiles.

Norad routinely monitors and intercepts Russian aircraft over the Arctic. About a dozen such incidents were recorded in 2024, with the most recent occurring on Dec. 17, 2024, when four Russian military planes were detected near Alaska.

There have been growing calls for Norad to upgrade and modernize its aging defensive systems in order to protect North America against new and emerging threats like hypersonic missiles. In 2022, Canada announced it would invest $38.6 billion over two decades to bolster Norad and continental defence.

“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 Jan. 30 press release stated. “Norad remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”