Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - September 18, 2024 - The US military has deployed 130 soldiers and mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian chain of western Alaska amid an increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching American territory.

Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conducted joint military drills.

None of the planes breached U.S. airspace, and a Pentagon spokesperson said there was no cause for alarm.

The Army sent the soldiers to Shemya Island, where the U.S. Air Force maintains an air station dating back to World War II.

The U.S. military also deployed a guided missile destroyer and a Coast Guard vessel to the western region of Alaska as Russia and China began the "Ocean-24" military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected and tracked Russian military planes operating off Alaska over a four-day span.

The Russian Embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that its homeland security vessel, the 418-foot (127-meter) Stratton, was on routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea when it tracked four Russian Federation Navy vessels about 60 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.

The recent spike is "something that we'll continue to keep an eye on, but doesn't pose a threat from our perspective."