Russian jet comes within 50 feet of US fighter off coast of Alaska
An F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, flies over the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex, Alaska, during exercise Red Flag-Alaska 24-1, April 26, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julia Lebens, FILE)
(WASHINGTON) — A Russian fighter jet crossed the path of an American F-16 last week coming within 50 feet of the nose of the American jet, said North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which said the Russian pilot’s action “endangered all.”
NORAD released dramatic video on Monday that showed just how close the Russian fighter flew ahead of the American aircraft at a high rate of speed.
The close encounter occurred on Sept. 23 during a flurry of activity by Russian aircraft that over the span of several days had flown through the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off of Alaska. The Alaska ADIZ is international airspace that stretches 150 miles from the Alaska coastline, but the U.S. requires that any aircraft transiting through it must identify themselves or be intercepted by NORAD aircraft.
On that day, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian Tu-95 bombers and the two Su-35 fighter jets that were escorting them.
The video released by NORAD was taken from a camera mounted in the canopy of the F-16 aircraft providing a view of what the pilot was seeing as the fighter flew near one of the Russian bombers.
Suddenly one of the Russian jets entered the field of view at a high rate of speed coming at what NORAD said was within 50 feet of the American plane’s nose rolling to one side as it flew past.
The video then showed the F-16’s nose wobbling from left to right, either as the American fighter pilot flew through the Russian aircraft’s wake or the pilot maintained control of the aircraft after the close encounter.
“The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORAD’s top commander, in a comment posted on X.
A NORAD statement about the intercept that day did not provide any indication that NORAD aircraft had intercepted the Russian planes only detailing that it had “detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).”
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” said the release. “This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
The close encounter capped two weeks of incidents where NORAD said it had detected and tracked the aircraft as they flew through the ADIZ.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Almagissel Schuring
(NEW YORK) — NATO troops, vessels and aircraft took to the frigid North Atlantic Ocean last month to sharpen their skills for a potential future war at sea, whether in the tumultuous Atlantic or in waters closer to their hypothetical Russian adversaries.
The drills — led by U.S. Naval Forces Europe and the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet — “focused on the strategic waterways and airspace surrounding Iceland,” a NATO press release said, an area it described as “a vital hub in the North Atlantic.” NATO forces practiced tracking enemy naval forces — including submarines — and responding to mass casualty events.
But one part of the exercise was designed with a different region, though the same hypothetical enemy, in mind.
With U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft acting as their eyes, Polish Naval Strike Missile (NSM) units used their time in Iceland to simulate strikes on enemy ships out at sea.
Lt. Bartlomiej Gryglewski, a liaison officer for the Polish navy’s naval missile unit, told ABC News that his contingent performed every step up until the actual firing of the munitions. “We ‘performed’ a lot of strikes,” Gryglewski said, describing the Norwegian-made NSM as a “pretty awesome” weapon.
The combination of the “precise missile” and the information gathered by the American aircraft above gives a “a high percentage chance — almost 100% — that the target will be hit,” Gryglewski added.
The North Atlantic, though, is not the expected hunting ground.
“We almost always perform our exercises in the Baltic region,” Gryglewski said, “protecting the Baltic Sea region from the enemy” as part of Poland’s coastal defense system.
NATO’s ‘lake’
There, Russia is “facing a real imbalance” with its NATO rivals, Sidharth Kaushal of the U.K.’s Royal United Services Institute think tank told ABC News.
NATO’s inclusion of Finland and Sweden — a direct consequence of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — has prompted some officials to jokingly refer to the Baltic Sea as the “NATO Lake.”
The trope “is a bit of an exaggeration, but only a bit,” Kaushal said. “The maritime imbalance is significantly in NATO’s favor, and that’s a huge problem for Russia.”
The Baltic Sea remains a key oil export route for Russian ships departing terminals in St. Petersburg. Commercial and military vessels alike must transit the sea to reach the Atlantic Ocean, passing through the Gulf of Finland and the narrow Danish straits with NATO eyes on all sides.
Russia’s strategic Kaliningrad exclave is surrounded by NATO nations, its approaches in sight of the Latvian, Polish and Swedish coasts.
In the event of war, NATO aircraft and vessels could launch attacks on Russian territory from within the Baltic region that would “give Russian air defenses very limited warning times,” Kashual noted.
“There’s a whole range of conundrums that the alliance’s preponderance in the Baltic Sea faces the Russians with,” Kaushal said. “Reminding Russia of that fact is probably an important goal for the Americans, and for the wider alliance.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin have routinely criticized NATO military drills — particularly those close to its border. In July, for example, Moscow hit out at NATO drills in Finland as “an integral part of NATO’s comprehensive provocative efforts to contain Russia.”
Control of the Baltic Sea is not a given for the Western allies. Russia’s naval cruise missile bombardment of Ukraine from the Black Sea since 2022 has proved devastating, and proved that Moscow can “pose a real threat at depth across Europe,” Kashual said.
“Sinking them early and demonstrating the ability to do so would be a real priority for regional countries like Poland, even if the aggregate balance of forces is now heavily skewed in NATO’s direction in the Baltic,” he added.
“There’s a temporal question; can the Baltic Fleet be sunk in a manner that’s both timely and cost effective before it’s done an unacceptable level of damage across Europe with its cruise missiles?”
Polish NSMs, Kashual added, could prove to be “a big part” of NATO’s answer to that question.
Poland’s government has said as much. “Due to the reinforcement of the coastal missile units, manned and unmanned reconnaissance platforms, modern mine warfare and submarines, we will greatly increase our capabilities to protect our coastline,” the Defense Ministry wrote in its 2032 plan.
Still, Western militaries may have to grapple with the same industrial strains that have so hamstrung Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Advanced technology like the NSM may work well, but restocking munitions might prove a challenge. Last fall, the Polish Defense Ministry inked a deal with NSM producer Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace for “several hundred” more missiles.
Naval missile troops have plenty of active case studies to turn to. In the Black Sea, Ukraine has been able to hold back the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and even sink the Moskva flagship.
In the Middle East, the Houthis in Yemen have hit dozens of commercial ships and attacked Western warships in nearby waters. The group has even claimed to have fired on vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.
“I think that everybody at this time is getting some experience from those,” Gryglewski said of the two ongoing conflicts. “But that’s all I can say about this for the moment.”
(DELPHI, Ind.) — Delphi, Indiana, resident Richard Allen was found guilty on all charges on Monday in the double murders of best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14.
The jury’s verdict came on the fourth day of deliberations in the high-profile case that shocked the nation.
Allen was stoic in court and did not react to the verdict, but his mother and wife sobbed.
Allen was convicted of felony murder for the killing of Abigail Williams while attempting to commit kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of Liberty German while attempting to commit kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abigail Williams; and murder for knowingly killing Liberty German.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20.
Abby and Libby were killed on a local hiking trail on Feb. 13, 2017. The girls’ throats were slit and they were dumped in a wooded area near the trail. Their bodies were found the next day.
As police hunted for a culprit, they released a clip of the unknown suspect’s voice — a recording of him saying “down the hill” — which was recovered from Libby’s phone. Police also released a grainy image of the suspect on the trail: a man who became known as “bridge guy.”
Allen, who was arrested for murder in 2022, admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the crime.
Allen’s multiple confessions while in jail and his mental health at the time became a major focus of the trial.
The defense argues Allen was in a psychotic state when he made numerous confessions to corrections officers, his wife and a psychologist.
The prosecution’s key evidence is police analysis of Allen’s gun, which determined that a .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls’ bodies was cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226. But the defense rejects the accuracy of that testing, calling it an “apples to oranges” comparison, because the technician compared the initial round — which had been cycled, not fired — to a bullet fired from Allen’s gun.
No DNA was found at the site to tie Allen or anyone else to the crime scene, a forensic scientist testified.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been permanently disbarred from practicing law in the District of Columbia, a court of appeals panel ruled Thursday.
According to the ruling, Giuliani’s disbarment is a resort of reciprocal discipline resulting from his law license being stripped in New York state over his efforts aiding former President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 election.
Giuliani’s law license had already been suspended in D.C.
The appeals court panel noted that Giuliani declined to respond when given notice back in July that he could face reciprocal discipline.
In a report issued in July, the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended Giuliani be disbarred, saying that in his capacity as personal attorney to then-President Trump, he committed misconduct by his “frivolous and destructive” efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s win through his failed legal challenges to the election results in Pennsylvania.
According to the report, the former New York City mayor violated two legal ethics rules in bringing the lawsuit, which sought to block the certification of votes in the state following Trump’s defeat.
The committee said that one of the rules was violated when he filed the lawsuit in Pennsylvania “when he had no factual basis and no legitimate legal grounds to do so.”
The other rule Giuliani violated was Pennsylvania’s Rules of Professional Conduct, the report said.
“He claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence of it,” the committee wrote.
