Air Force sends F-16s to remote island in the western Aleutians

The Air Force sent several F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets to a remote part of the western Aleutian Islands this month, as part of a wider North American Aerospace Defense Command exercise. The deployment was notable as it was the first time in years that fighter jets were at Eareckson Air Station in an air defense alert role.

The use of the station on Shemya Island for this role comes as the U.S. looks to expand its abilities to rapidly move forces to remote or austere spots in the Arctic.

The F-16s were on Shemya, a tiny island sitting in the Bering Sea in the western part of the Aleutian Islands, as part of Operation Noble Defender, NORAD announced on Friday, Oct. 30. The operation, which started in mid-October and wrapped Oct. 26, saw American and Canadian fighter jets and refueling planes stage around Alaska and Alberta, Canada. It culminated on Oct. 25 with a large-scale air exercise called Operation Noble Eagle. It involved two F-16s, F-35 Lightning IIs assigned to Eielson Air Force Base, an E-3 Sentry from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Canadian fighter jets, and multiple refueling tankers. 

As NORAD noted, Eareckson Air Station is roughly 1,600 miles away from Eielson. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert D. Davis, the commander for the Alaskan NORAD Region, noted the need to “bring combat power together across vast distances.”

“Operating from Eareckson Air Station proved we can deploy to an austere location, maintain alert, launch on short notice, and seamlessly integrate U.S. and Canadian forces to defend the northern approaches,” Davis said in the NORAD announcement.

Shemya is home to a large runway as well as an important early warning tracking station. The island is closer to Russian territory than it is to the Alaskan mainland. During the Cold War it was home to many deployed fighter jets operating in air defense roles to deter the Soviets. In the early 1990s, however, Eareckson Air Station saw its regular fighter presence end. The military has returned aircraft to the station several times in the following years. As TWZ noted, special operations forces have repeatedly trained on the island in recent years in exercises focused on defending the important Cobra Dane radar system.

NORAD often scrambles fighter jets to intercept aircraft in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone; the zone is part of international airspace but NORAD requires aircraft to identify themselves. Last year there were several instances of Russian jets entering the Alaskan ADIZ. 

In its announcement, NORAD noted that the deployment to Eareckson Air Station further validated the remote base “as a viable location for future fighter operations from an austere airfield.”

The wider military has been looking at the Aleutians as potential sites for permanent or temporary defensive sites in the high north. Adak Island, another small island to the east of Shemya in the Aleutians, is home to an abandoned Navy base. Recently, some military leaders have pushed to reopen the naval station. Two years ago, the Army and Air Force used Shemya has a staging ground to test and demonstrate how quickly they could rapidly deploy troops and equipment. Military planes ferried paratroopers, radars and at least one M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System to the island to rapidly set up position around Shemya.

Earlier this month, Davis told High North News that “homeland defense in the Arctic cannot be seasonal or episodic.”