Shocking video shows Russian fighter jet flying within feet of US F-16 near Alaska

US military officials have released new video of a shocking encounter between a Russian warplane flying near Alaska and a US Air Force F-16 sent to intercept it.

In a video released Monday, a Russian jet appears from behind the camera and hovers over the American plane, just feet from the plane.

The video release of the close encounter on September 23, with a US pilot under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, comes after a series of Russian attacks in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone beyond US airspace.

The deal drew criticism from NORAD’s top official and one of Alaska’s US senators.

“The behavior of the Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and put everything at risk – not what you would see in a professional air force,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of NORAD and US Northern Command. The NORAD plane flew a “safe and orderly approach” to intercept the Russian plane, he added.

A message sent to the Russian Embassy on Monday seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The passage of the Russian plane comes weeks after eight Russian warplanes and four of its naval vessels, including two submarines, approached Alaska as China and Russia conducted joint military exercises.

Neither plane violated US airspace. However, about 130 US troops were sent along with rocket launchers to Shemya Island, about 1,931 kilometers southwest of Anchorage. They were sent to the Aleutian Islands for a week before returning to their bases.

In July, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace over Alaska, a sign of cooperation that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said raised concerns.

In 2022, a US Coast Guard vessel about 137 kilometers north of Alaska’s Kiska Island in the Bering Sea found three Chinese and four Russian vessels traveling in the same direction.

Sena. Dan Sullivan, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that the close pass of the Russian plane is another reason for the US military buildup in Alaska and the Arctic.

“The reckless and reckless actions of Russian pilots – within a few feet of our Alaska-based military – in Alaska’s ADIZ on September 23 put the lives of our brave Airmen at risk and underscores the increasing aggression we are seeing from dictators like Vladimir Putin,” Sullivan said in a statement.