US builds up naval, troop presence near Alaska amid Russian activity

[Thiệu Ngô]

The actions follow a series of Russian air operations that skirted Alaskan airspace and as Russian and Chinese warships conducted joint exercises across the Pacific.

By Paul McLeary and Joe Gould

The U.S. military is steadily boosting its presence near Alaska, deploying a destroyer and an Army unit armed with a long-range missile system as tensions rise due to stepped-up Russian and Chinese military activities near the Alaskan coast.

Over the past month, the destroyer USS Sterett has been dispatched to the Alaskan coast in response to the Russian navy ships operating in the area, Army troops have landed on a remote Alaskan island, and fighter squadrons and other aircraft based in Alaska have been placed on heightened alert. The actions follow a series of Russian air operations that skirted Alaskan airspace and as Russian and Chinese warships conducted joint exercises across the Pacific near Japan.

Moscow has taken to flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic as its relationship with China deepens thanks in part to the war in Ukraine. Largely without allies in Europe to partner with, Russian ships and aircraft have run a series of large-scale exercises in the Pacific as Beijing and Moscow draw closer due to each nation’s isolation from the international community, building on economic ties brought about by international sanctions.

Russia’s foreign minister is warning that it is “fully ready” for a conflict with NATO in the Arctic.

“We see NATO stepping up drills related to possible crises in the Arctic,” Sergey Lavrov said, according to Russian state media, in comments for a documentary series that were first reported Friday.

“Our country is fully ready to defend its interests militarily, politically and from the standpoint of defense technologies,” he added.

The Arctic includes territory belonging to eight nations: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the U.S., Iceland and Russia. All except Russia are NATO members.

Even so, Lavrov warned that “the Arctic is not the territory of the North Atlantic alliance,” and said other, non-Arctic countries, such as China and India, hold interests there.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) expressed deep concern over the situation, noting a significant uptick in the scale and frequency of Russian and Chinese military activity in the region. Sullivan, who has been lobbying military leaders to upgrade Alaska’s military infrastructure, stressed the importance of standing firm against what he sees as aggressive moves by authoritarian regimes.

“The tempo has gone way up,” the senior Senate Armed Services Committee member said in an interview. “The number of assets have gone way up. It’s air, surface and subsurface that the Russians are employing, but they’re doing it much more in a joint capacity with China than they’ve ever done. They’re clearly escalatory.”

In July, North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted Russian and Chinese bombers flying just 200 miles from Alaska’s coast. It marked the first time that assets from both countries had been intercepted while operating together, with aircraft taking off from the same Russian air base. Sullivan noted the challenge posed by the distance, as U.S. fighter jets had to launch from an airbase approximately 1,000 miles away, emphasizing the need for more infrastructure to support a quicker response.

The new U.S. military deployments and alerts come amid repeated intercepts of Russian surveillance planes near U.S. airspace and the start of a massive Chinese/Russian exercise in the Sea of Japan dubbed Ocean 2024 that includes dozens of warships and over 120 naval aircraft.

Elsewhere in the region, around 130 soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne and the 1st and 3rd Multi-Domain Task Forces have sent units to Shemya in the U.S.-held Aleutian Islands around 1,200 miles west of Anchorage as part of a previously planned exercise that has taken on new importance in the battle of deployments in the region. The deployment includes a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System pulled from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, and radars to track aerial threats.

The destroyer Sterett, which left its home port of San Diego early this month, this week pulled into a rarely used port at Dutch Harbor, about 1,100 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands, while patrolling the Bering Sea.

A spokesperson for U.S. Northern Command emailed a statement that the destroyer was “deployed to support U.S. Northern Command’s Maritime Homeland Defense mission in response to the known Russian exercise in that region.”

The threat from Russian forces continues to evolve. On Sept. 15, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton detected four Russian navy vessels, including submarines and frigates, 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska. The Russian vessels remained on the Russian side of the Maritime Boundary Line while transiting approximately 30 miles inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone under international law.

“This is a sustained operation that we have in place to make sure that we meet presence with presence and demonstrate the importance of U.S. sovereignty,” U.S. Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said Thursday during a Senate hearing in response to questions from Sullivan. Lunday highlighted coordination efforts with Canada and Northern Command to monitor the activity of Russian and Chinese forces.

Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) suggested that Russia’s increased activity near Alaska could be a direct response to Washington’s substantial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Reed said these maneuvers are likely aimed at sending a message not only to the U.S. but also to the Russian public, as President Vladimir Putin seeks to project strength amid growing domestic pressure over the faltering war effort.

“I think they’re probably also trying to send a message to their own country,” Reed said. “’Hey, you know the U.S. can’t intimidate us.’”

Navy spokesperson Lt. Mohammad Issa said the Navy “frequently conducts exercises and operations in the Northern Pacific” and is “committed to upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

On Sept. 11, two Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, leading to U.S. F-16 fighter jets scrambling to intercept the warplanes, along with surveillance and aerial refueling aircraft.

NORAD tracked two more Russian sorties in the days after, although no intercepts were necessary. On Sept. 13, two Russian Tu-142 aircraft entered the ADIZ, followed by two Russian Il-38 aircraft on Sept. 14.

The dueling shows of force are only the latest amid a larger uptick in the region. In August 2023, a fleet of 11 Russian and Chinese warships sailed from the Sea of Japan through the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean, passing close to the Aleutians. The Russian news agency Interfax said at the time that the ships were conducting “joint anti-submarine and anti-aircraft exercises.”

U.S. officials said they are continuing to work closely with NATO allies on intelligence sharing and coordinated responses to Russian activities in the region.