US anticipates increased Chinese military activity off Alaska's coast

Commander of US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) General Gregory M. Guillot has stated that China is expected to ramp up its military presence around Alaska, potentially including bomber flights.

“I do think that [China will] increase their presence both independently and as well as increased cooperation with the Russians in the air, in the maritime, and undersea,” Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Military flights by China and Russia have increasingly raised concerns for the US over the past year, especially following the first joint Chinese-Russian bomber patrol into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last July. During this incident, two Chinese H-6 bombers and two Russian TU-95 bombers flew near Alaska within the US ADIZ, escorted by Russian fighters, with American and Canadian NORAD fighters intercepting the mission.

This flight highlighted the growing cooperation between China and Russia, with China also supplying dual-use technology to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, the Chinese and Russian bombers launched from the same Russian base for their mission near Alaska. General Guillot identified the increasing collaboration between the two nations as one of his primary concerns moving forward.

“Their transfer of weapons, military technology, and basing access is cause for significant concern,” Guillot said in his opening statement to the committee.

“What I worry about the most is that instead of just weapons and technology, that they will trade [basing] access, which would shorten our timelines to react to either country’s military capabilities,” he added later. 

Guillot also expressed concerns about the increasing Chinese naval presence near Alaska, in addition to military flights. Last year, the US tracked multiple Chinese and Russian naval flotillas, and a notable exercise in 2023 involving nearly a dozen Chinese and Russian ships led US Navy destroyers to shadow the fleet.

Until February 2024, Guillot served as the deputy commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US forces in the Middle East. During his tenure, the US dealt with Iran and its extensive network of proxy groups, encountered Russian aircraft over Syria, and grew wary of China’s expanding influence in the region. This experience seemed to shape his testimony to the committee. 

“The growing cooperation between China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran to challenge the United States” has “direct implications for homeland defense,” Guillot said. Along with his concerns about Chinese activity, Guillot also mentioned that Moscow is increasing its unilateral bomber flights near Alaska and Canada, reaching levels not observed in years.

“The associated risks to North America have also grown as the number of Russian bomber incursions into Alaska and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zone has returned to levels not seen since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine” in February 2022, Gulliot said. 

He said a similar trend has played out with naval activity. “We’ve seen a significant increase in both Russian air and maritime activity in the vicinity of Alaska, both in the Bering Sea and up in the Arctic Ocean.” 

He noted that Russia has also intensified its flights along the eastern coast of North America. Last month, Russian military flights in the Arctic led NORAD to launch fighter patrols near Alaska and Canada, and recently, NORAD deployed US F-16s to Greenland.

“We’ve also seen an increase in air patrols on the eastern side, what we call the two o’clock approach through the Greenland and Iceland Gap towards Maine and the northeast portion of the United States,” Guillot said. “I’m certainly concerned by that. And I would expect the numbers on both sides of our coast to increase in the coming year.”

By Naila Huseynova