At 1240 hours Eastern,a tweet from NORAD/USNORTHCOM stated that two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers entered the Canadian Air Defense Identification Zone on 26 January 2019.The bombers remained in international airspace and did not enter sovereign territory.What was extraordinary was that five NORAD aircraft were launched to identify and intercept the Blackjacks, when normally it would just be a few fighter jets.*
This time,it was a full-on response with an E-3 AWACS,two US Air Force F-22 Raptors and two Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornets.It may have to do with Canada's recent expansion of it's AIDZ to include the Canadian Arctic in light of Russia's increased activity in the region.Then too,it may also have to do with the current tension over Venezuela between Russia and the West.
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