Russian warplanes flying near Alaska tracked by U.S. military, NORAD says [Video]

Russian warplanes were detected flying off the coast of Alaska and tracked by the U.S. military, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Tuesday. The Russian aircraft never entered American or Canadian sovereign airspace, NORAD said, adding that the planes were “not seen as a threat.” 

U.S. officials did not identify the type of Russian aircraft that were spotted nor the number of planes.

While the Russian planes remained in international air space, they entered a region beyond U.S. and Canadian sovereign air space called the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), where aircraft are expected to identify themselves.

The ADIZ is a stretch of international air space bordering the sovereign space around the U.S. and Canada, which both countries monitor in order to detect all aircraft passing through. Surveillance in the zone is maintained for national security …