US sends troops to Alaska amid increased Russian military activity

AnchorageThe U.S. military has deployed more than 100 troops and portable rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian Islands west of Alaska amid a recent increase in the presence of Russian aircraft and military vessels near U.S. territory.

Eight Russian military aircraft and four vessels, including two submarines, have approached Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conduct joint military exercises. None of the aircraft violated U.S. airspace and a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday there was no cause for alarm.

“This is not the first time we’ve seen the Russians and the Chinese flying nearby, and it’s something we’re obviously monitoring closely, and it’s also something we’re prepared to respond to,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said at a news conference.

As part of a “force projection operation,” the military deployed troops on Sept. 12 to Shemya Island, about 1,930 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, where the U.S. Air Force maintains a station dating back to World War II. The soldiers brought along two HIMARS rocket systems.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska noted that the U.S. military also deployed a guided-missile destroyer and a Coast Guard cutter to western Alaska as Russia and China began their “Ocean-24” military exercises off the Pacific and Arctic coasts on Sept. 10.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said it detected and tracked Russian military aircraft operating off the coast of Alaska over a four-day period. It recorded the presence of two aircraft on each of September 11, 13, 14 and 15.

Sullivan called for a greater military presence in the Aleutians while urging the United States to respond forcefully to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“Over the past two years we have seen joint Russian and Chinese air and naval exercises off our coasts and a Russian spy balloon flying over our communities,” the Republican senator said in a statement. “These incidents demonstrate the critical role of the Arctic in the vast power competition between the United States, Russia and China.”

Sullivan added that the US Navy should reopen its base at Adak, located in the Aleutians, which was closed in 1997.