After the Army sent 130 paratroopers to a remote Aleutian island base while Russia and China conducted joint military tests offshore, Alaska leaders warned that the only response should be American power.
The Army deployed the soldiers to Erlexson Air Base on Shemya Island, less than 300 miles from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, during Ocean 2024, a joint military exercise between the United States' two biggest geographic adversaries.
Russian state media The spokesman said more than 15 warships had been conducting missile drills and other exercises in the area. The news follows an incident in July in which U.S. F-16 fighter jets and Canadian CF-18 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian and Chinese bombers and two Chinese bombers off the coast of Alaska.
“We are pleased to be able to continue to provide support to the 11th Airborne Division, which is based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, commander of the 11th Airborne Division, based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Alaska Beacon The U.S. response ensured the Army's capabilities.
“[It] “This is critical to our defense and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Hilbert said. “The ability to rapidly and effectively deploy combat-capable forces anywhere, no matter how remote, is critical to supporting our nation and strong relationships with our allies and partners.”
Governor of Alaska, only state with border with Russia, says defenses are 'strong'
Meanwhile, Alaska's Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, said Russia and his state are less than two miles apart at the closest point between Big Diomede Island in the Bering Sea and Little Diomede Island, where a small Iñupiaq village is located and whose residents can see Russia.
“We live in a dangerous area,” Gov. Dunleavy said in an interview Tuesday.
“Unlike most other states, we have airfields close to our territory. … Russia and China pass through the Bering Strait.”
Regarding the Ocean 24 drills that sparked a U.S. response, he said: “I think Russia is sending a message. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure our forces in Washington are receiving it and are augmenting our personnel in the western Aleutians.”
But Dunleavy said Alaska stands ready to defend its territory and the United States if necessary.
The vast state is home to several high-performance military bases, from JBER to Clear Space Force Base in Fairbanks, Fort Greeley in Delta Junction, and the Near Islands base, which is currently receiving reinforcements.
“We have an incredible readiness force. … So if the question is, “Are you concerned that Russia might do harm to Alaska?” no. [also] We are installing a missile defense system to defend against missile launches by North Korea.”
Flashback: Alaska's F-35s prepare for major battle in sub-zero Arctic temperatures
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and Russian President Putin (Sergey Bobylev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via The Associated Press)
Asked about former President Trump's claim that such aggressive actions by America's rivals would not occur under his administration, Dunleavy said, “That's true.”
“We see the world as Americans. … But the world sometimes doesn't see it that way. It's a dangerous world. And I think that once people, particularly in the Middle East, but also the Chinese and the Russians, see a weakness, they will take advantage of it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said the Ocean 24 exercise was the biggest in 30 years, according to Reuters.
“We pay particular attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly countries,” Putin said. “This is especially important today in the context of growing geopolitical tensions in the world.”
“[America is] Putin said he was “seeking to maintain global military and political superiority at all costs” and that the United States was trying to “inflict a strategic defeat” on Ukraine and upend the “established security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region.
But these national security threats are too often ignored in Washington, said Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska and a Marine Corps Reserve colonel with 30 years of active duty and deployed experience.
“Tensions between China and Russia in the North Pacific and the Arctic are at levels we've not seen in decades,” Sullivan said. “In fact, they're unprecedented because they've never acted together in this way before.”
Sullivan said in an interview Tuesday that Alaska has experienced a “fair number” of threats from Russian “Bear” bombers over the years.[But] Last summer, a joint Russian-Chinese naval task force of 12 ships was deployed to the area, something that has never been done before. [our] The coast.”
“The way Russia and China respond, they really only respond with force. What we need to do is continue to confront them with our military power,” he said. [territory]”This is America. It may be a faraway country to most Americans, but it is America to me and my constituents.”
He noted the 11th Airborne Division's new deployment to the Aleutian Islands, adding that another task force was due to arrive from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Olympia, Washington.
Sullivan, who regularly hosts senior military leaders in Alaska, said he drafted an NDAA provision to further explore Adak, the main island in the Aleutian chain where the U.S. once operated submarines and an air force base.
Sullivan said Russian interests have reportedly been in contact with Alaska Native companies that own land on Adak Island, not far from Dutch Harbor, known for its crab fishing.
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Anchorage, Alaska (Zihao Chen via Getty Images)
He accused Democrats of delaying any substantive political response at this point.
“In the Senate, [Majority Leader] “Chuck Schumer doesn't care about national security at all,” he said.
“The NDAA has been sitting around for three months, district court judges are up for votes, and some Democratic senators are calling on Governor Schumer to send a National Defense Authorization Act to the General Assembly, but he won't do it anytime soon.”
Sullivan said Democrats have traditionally cut, or at least tried to cut, defense spending during the terms of presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden.
Meanwhile, he said, the Republican administrations of Presidents Reagan, Eisenhower, Bush and President Trump all did the opposite.
“That's the wrong signal to send to the enemy. [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, an Ayatollah-like opponent [in Iran]”Weakness is provocative, and we're seeing a big example of that,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said there were four foreign military incursions into Alaska's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last week, three by air and one by sea.
While not a formal invasion, the unannounced incursion into an Air Defense Identification Zone, an imaginary boundary outside a nation's actual borders where the U.S. attempts to identify aircraft heading toward the country, is worrying.
Sullivan said U.S. military aircraft would need multiple refueling stops to reach the Western Aleutian Islands, more than 1,000 miles from Anchorage, while Russian forces only need to travel the distance from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., to threaten U.S. territory.
“Our military does a great job, but we need more assets. We need more infrastructure, and not just in Alaska. But [the U.S.] Any form of cruise or ballistic missile attack would provide an avenue of access to the rest of the country.”
“When we protect Alaska's airspace and waters, we protect the entire United States.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Schumer for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report..
