US boosting military presence in Alaska – Politico

Washington has sent additional forces to the region amid an uptick in Russian and Chinese activity, the outlet says

The US is reinforcing its military footprint in Alaska due to increased Russian and Chinese activity off the coast, Politico reported on Friday.

The outlet noted that over the past month, the US had redeployed numerous assets to the area, including the destroyer USS Sterett, ground forces now stationed on one of the state’s remote islands, and that fighters and other aircraft have been put on heightened alert.

Business Insider reported last week that the deployment included elements of the 11th Airborne Division supported by HIMARS missile systems and counter fire radars to keep an eye on Sino-Russian naval exercises.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) sounded the alarm over an uptick in Russian and Chinese military activities. “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,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) suggested that Russia’s military activities come as a response to Washington’s support for Kiev in its conflict with Moscow. “I think they’re probably also trying to send a message to their own country,” he said.

On September 15, the Russian Defense Ministry said two of its Tu-95 strategic bombers flew over the Chukchi Sea in neutral airspace not far from Alaska to practice “carrying out air strikes with air-launched cruise missiles on key facilities of a simulated enemy” while being escorted by several fighter jets.

In July, officials in Moscow announced that Russian and Chinese bombers were on a joint patrol mission in the same area. They stated that the planes complied with all international aviation regulations while being shadowed by fighter jets from unnamed foreign countries.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed that Moscow would protect its interests in the Arctic, saying that NATO nations appear to be eyeing expansion into the region.