On April 14, 2025, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) intercepted a formation of six Russian military aircraft operating within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), approximately 250 nautical miles (about 463 kilometers) from Shemya Island in the western Aleutians. The event, officially reported by the U.S. Department of Defense on April 19, 2025, involved the deployment of U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft to intercept and shadow the Russian formation over the Bering Sea, a strategically significant body of water that lies between eastern Russia and western Alaska, connecting the Arctic Ocean with the North Pacific.
Continue reading “U.S. F-35 Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Intelligence Aircraft Near Alaska in NORAD Operation.”
Three military leaders have expressed interest in reviving a World War II-era military base on Adak Island as part of the U.S. Arctic Strategy.
Patty Nieberg | Published Apr 17, 2025 5:21 PM EDT
Continue reading “The Navy may revive this forgotten Alaskan base that sits halfway to Russia – Adak!”
By JO2 Thomas Leek, Naval Security Station, Washington, D.C.
Keeping a secret might be considered tough these days, but there’s one group of Navy men who managed to keep a big secret for more than five decades. Perhaps the most exclusive group of men in the Navy’s history-only 176 in number-they were a highly skilled, extremely dedicated and motivated group of professionals. What’s more, they helped their country secure victory in the Pacific during World War II.
Continue reading “From ALL HANDS magazine October, 1983: ‘On the Roof Gang’ 55 Years of Silence”
On Monday, April 14, 1969 at 5:00 PM EST (1544Z), a Navy EC-121M reconnaissance aircraft (PR-21/BuNo 135749) of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) with a crew of 31, including nine Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU) and Marine linguists, took off from Atsugi Naval Air Station, Japan on a routine Beggar Shadow SIGINT collection mission over the Sea of Japan.
Continue reading “Remembering the Crew of EC-121 Beggar Shadow”
As reported by Chosun on March 18, 2025, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) hosted a handover ceremony at its Ulsan headquarters for Jeongjo the Great, the lead vessel of Korea’s next-generation Aegis destroyers. During the event, HD HHI stated that it can build up to five Aegis destroyers per year for the U.S. Navy if bilateral cooperation is formalized, and that it is prepared to expand this capacity further depending on demand. The company emphasized that these Aegis destroyers are equivalent in size and performance to the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class. This announcement comes as the United States faces structural limitations in its domestic shipbuilding sector, where the number of shipyards has declined from over 400 to fewer than 30.
Continue reading “South Korea offers to build five Aegis destroyers per year to help the US counter China at sea.”
On September 4, 1974, in one of the Cold War’s most secretive and somber moments, the United States Navy held a burial at sea for the remains of Soviet sailors recovered from the sunken submarine K-129. The submarine had mysteriously disappeared in March 1968, northwest of Hawaii, with all 98 crew members aboard. Years later, the U.S. covertly recovered part of the wreck during the highly classified Project Azorian, an ambitious operation carried out by the CIA using the specially constructed ship Glomar Explorer.
Continue reading “The Loss of Soviet Submarine K-129, the Secret Burial at Sea and CWO4 Jim Reeb (Ret.)”
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