Russian Su-35 nearly collides with US F-16 during Alaska intercept | News [Video]

A Russian fighter jet only narrowly avoided colliding with an American military aircraft during an intercept off the coast of Alaska.

The incident occurred on 23 September, during what has become the common occurrence of intercepting Russian long-range bombers probing the Alaska air defence interdiction zone (ADIZ) – an amorphous term denoting the non-sovereign airspace patrolled by a country’s military forces.

A Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter from the US Air Force had been dispatched to shadow a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 turboprop bomber, a process the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) describes as “routine”.

However, during the intercept of the Tupolev bomber, a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker fighter roared past the F-16 apparently without warning – passing within a few metres of the Viper.

“NORAD aircraft flew a safe and disciplined intercept of Russian military aircraft in the Alaskan ADIZ,” said USAF General Gregory Guillot on 23 September. …