The US is moving troops to the Alaskan island as Russian military activity increases in the area

The US military has moved about 130 troops and rocket launchers to a deserted island in the Aleutian chain west of Alaska amid a recent increase in Russian military aircraft and ships approaching US territory.

Eight Russian military aircraft and four naval vessels, including two submarines, approached Alaska last week as Russia and China conducted joint military exercises. No planes violated US airspace and a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday there was no reason to panic.

“It’s not the first time we’ve seen the Russians and the Chinese flying, you know, in the area, and that’s obviously something we’re keeping a close eye on, and it’s something we’re prepared to respond to,” a Pentagon spokesman said. Maj. General Pat Ryder said at a press conference.

As part of the “force projection operation” on September 12, the US sent troops to Shemya Island, about 1,900 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, where the US Air Force maintains an air station that dates back to World War II.

The military brought in High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, too.

Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan said the US military also sent a guided missile and a Coast Guard ship to the western Alaska region as Russia and China began the “Ocean-24” military exercise in the Pacific and Arctic seas on September 10.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it had detected and tracked Russian military aircraft operating in Alaska over a four-day period. There were two flights each on September 11, 13, 14 and 15.

The planes were operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, an area outside US sovereign airspace, but where the US expects the planes to identify themselves, NORAD said.

The Russian embassy in the US did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

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NORAD said the number of such incursions is decreasing every year. The average was six to seven terminations per year. Last year, 26 Russian planes landed in Alaska, and so far this year, there have been 25.

Often in such encounters, the military provides images of Russian warplanes escorted by US or Canadian planes, such as the encounter between two Russian and two Chinese planes on July 24. However, no one has been released this past week and NORAD spokesman Maj. of Canada, Jennie Derenzis, declined to say whether the jets were scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft.

The US Coast Guard said on Sunday that its vessel, the Stratton-meter, was patrolling the Chukchi Sea when it tracked four Russian Federation Navy vessels 96 kilometers northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.

Russian ships, including two submarines, a frigate and a tugboat, had crossed the maritime border into US waters to avoid sea ice, which is allowed under international rules and norms.

Two years ago, a US Coast Guard vessel about 137 kilometers north of Alaska’s Kiska Island in the Bering Sea found three Chinese and four Russian ships traveling in the same direction.

Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said the latest incident “is something we will continue to monitor, but it does not pose a threat from our perspective.”

Sullivan called for more troops in the Aleutians while pushing for a stronger US response to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Over the past two years, we have seen joint Russian and Chinese military exercises off our coast and a Chinese spy balloon hovering over our communities,” Sullivan said in a statement on Tuesday. “These growing incidents show the important role the Arctic plays in the great energy competition between the US, Russia, and China.”

Sullivan said the US Navy should reopen its closed base at Adak, located in the Aleutians. Naval Air Facility Adak was closed in 1997.