About 130 U.S. soldiers who were deployed to a remote Alaska island with mobile rocket launchers last week are now returning to their bases. The deployment to Shemya Island included soldiers from Alaska, Washington, and Hawaii, with the 11th Airborne Division and the 1st and 3rd Multi Domain Task Forces participating. The soldiers were sent to the island as a response to a surge in Russian military activity near the western U.S. borders. The deployment coincided with multiple Russian military planes and navy vessels, including submarines, operating close to Alaska while Russia and China conducted joint military exercises.

Major General Joseph Hilbert, the commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, highlighted the timeliness of the deployment to Shemya Island, 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked several Russian military planes near Alaska over a four-day period. While none of the planes breached U.S. airspace, their presence in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone raised concerns. NORAD reported an increase in the frequency of Russian aircraft entering the zone, with 26 instances last year and 25 so far this year.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently encountered four Russian Federation Navy vessels, including two submarines, about 60 miles northwest of Point Hope in the Chukchi Sea. The vessels crossed into U.S. waters to navigate around sea ice, in accordance with international regulations. This incident echoes a similar encounter in 2022 when a U.S. Coast Guard ship observed Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailing together near Kiska Island in the Bering Sea. Exercises like these serve as a test of the military's readiness and highlight the strategic importance of Alaska in monitoring and responding to potential threats near U.S. borders.