SC Alaska News

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, addressed recent Russian military activity in Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) during an interview with Harris Faulkner on Fox News Channel. According to Sullivan, Russia and China have conducted more than 40 air and naval incursions into Alaska’s ADIZ and Exclusive Economic Zone since 2019, including joint operations.

“The Russians have been very aggressive,” said Sen. Sullivan. “Billy Mitchell, the father of the U.S. Air Force, called Alaska the most strategic place in the world. Well, our adversaries know that, which is why they're testing us up there. We've even had joint Russian(-Chinese) naval task forces in our waters and joint Russian(-Chinese) strategic bomber task forces in our airspace, in our ADIZ, as we call it. Our professional military based in Alaska, they do a great job…This is why we're going to build up more Alaska military. In the One Big Beautiful Bill, we got more infrastructure for Arctic military operations. But there's a lot going on in my neck of the woods…If this were going on on the East Coast of America, the media would be doing stories on it every day.”

Sullivan emphasized that Alaskan-based U.S. forces intercept these incursions regularly and highlighted increased investment in Arctic military infrastructure through recent legislation.

He also discussed progress on the Golden Dome initiative—a modernized homeland missile defense system originally proposed by President Trump—which aims to provide layered defense capabilities against missile threats using space-based sensors and interceptors along with an open architecture for integration.

Sullivan explained: “I want to commend President Trump for his leadership and vision. He's been talking about missile defense since his first term. He's been leading on this. The Golden Dome vision is completely President Trump's. We're making great progress on it because we have some key things that you need for progress in DC. You have presidential leadership, which is what we have. We have significant funding. The One Big Beautiful Bill had a down payment of $25 billion to build out the Golden Dome. You have my legislation with Senator Cramer, which is authorizing legislation to put this initiative into law. I think a lot of that's going to pass in the defense bill coming up soon. So those are key elements, and as the President said, we already have a strong defense system in terms of missile defense. By the way, it's almost all based in Alaska—another reason why we're so strategic. But we're going to build on that. We're going to make a layered system that includes, as the President said, space-based sensors, space-based interceptors, an open architecture, so we can integrate these different systems, and we're off to the races on this. By the way, we're the only country in the world that can do this. We have the technology. We have the ability with a great military, and now with presidential leadership. That's why Russia and China are so scared of this. I think when they speak out against it, it shows that we're on target.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4th, provided $25 billion toward development of Golden Dome capabilities; authorizing legislation introduced by Senators Sullivan and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is incorporated into provisions expected to be included within this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

During his appearance with Faulkner he reiterated: “Oh yeah...Harris...thank you so much for highlighting these incursions both into our airspace in Alaska and into our waters and into our oceans...The Russians have been very aggressive...We've even had joint Russian(-Chinese) naval task forces in our waters...Our professional military based in Alaska...do it professionally...They just did it last week again...This is why we're going to build up more Alaska military....If this were going on on the East Coast of America...the media would be doing stories on it every day....But you continue to highlight it...and I thank you for that.”

Faulkner concluded: “Well, that answered my next question....Why do they care so much? Because they can't do it....Senator Sullivan thank you very much for not just the update....It is breaking news when our citizens are that close to an enemy.”