The U.S. Air Force intercepted Russian maritime reconnaissance airplanes that were on their way to Alaska. The Diplomat reported that the incident took place over the Bering Sea, north of the Aleutian Islands.
NORAD reported that "F-22 fighters, supported by KC-135 Stratotanker and E-3 AWACS aircraft from the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted two Russian IL-38 aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone on April 8th, 2020".
“COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year,” said General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, the NORAD commander. “This is the latest of several occasions in the past month in which we have intercepted Russian aircraft operating near the approaches to our nations. We continue to execute our no-fail homeland defense missions with the same capability and capacity we always bring to the fight,” wrote The Diplomat.
Russian aircraft have been repeatedly provoking U.S. Air Force, approaching the U.S. airspace.