Russian military aircraft regularly approach the sovereign airspace of the United States and Canada as a way to test NORAD defenses. In 2020, two nuclear-capable Russian TU-95 bombers flew to about 20 miles of Alaska’s shores. Last month, Russian surveillance aircraft entered the ADIZ twice over two days.
NORAD has been defending Russia's approaches to North America since the Cold War to detect any nuclear missile and bomber attack. “NORAD uses a network of satellites and ground-based radars to monitor the ADIZ, which extends along the shores of Alaska and Canada.”
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Should a full-scale attack occur or even if Russian aircraft penetrate American or Canadian sovereign airspace, NORAD is tasked with dealing with the airborne part of such an attack with an array of fighter-interceptor aircraft. Missile defense is handled by the Missile Defense Agency, an outgrowth o the Reagan-era Strategic Defense Initiative.
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The United States Military Joint Chiefs of Staff established NORAD in 1957 on a Joint Canadian-US Military Group recommendation. In 1966, the headquarters for NORAD resided underground in a hardened center underneath Cheyenne Mountain. Currently, the day-to-day operations for NORAD are conducted out of Peterson Air Force Base, with support personnel at the Cheyenne Mountain facility on standby in the case of a nuclear conflict.
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After the Cold War, NORAD’s mandate expanded to include aerial drug interdiction. After 9/11, it expanded further to include monitoring air traffic in the interior of North America to ward off a repeat of terrorists hijacking aircraft to use as suicide weapons.
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