Washington (CNN)US
Navy F/A-18 fighter jets were dispatched from the aircraft carrier USS
Ronald Reagan and escorted two Russian TU-95 bombers that were
approaching the ship on Sunday, according to two US defense officials.
The
interaction -- which occurred as the Russian bombers flew about 80
miles from the US carrier -- was deemed safe and professional, the
officials said, and the Russian aircraft proceeded without incident.
The USS Ronald Reagan was operating in the Sea of Japan/ East Sea at the time of the interaction.
Three
US carriers -- USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz
-- have been operating in the US Navy's 7th Fleet area of operations,
which covers the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans, in recent
days.
The Roosevelt and Nimitz joined the Reagan, which is based in Japan, in the region last week.
While
the Navy did not provide any specific mission details for the Roosevelt
and Nimitz, the presence of the additional carriers has drawn attention
in the region.
Added US military
presence is almost certainly meant as a message to North Korea but also
sends a signal to Russia and China as both nations attempt to expand
their own footholds in the region.
Russia
has sent its bombers flying over the Korean Peninsula in recent months
-- a telegraph to both Beijing and Washington that Moscow, too, is
pivoting to Asia.
Aerial encounters
US and Russian aircraft conduct regular intercepts of foreign aircraft in international airspace and most are deemed to be safe and professional by both sides.
In June, a Russian fighter jet intercepted a US bomber over the Baltic Sea in international waters in such an interaction.
But
the US took issue with a separate June encounter in which a Russian
Su-27 fighter jet flew within five feet of a US Air Force RC-135
reconnaissance aircraft in the skies above the Baltic Sea.
US
officials deemed that intercept "unsafe" as the armed Russian jet flew
"erratically," in close proximity to the American spy plane.
Russia
disputed claims that its aircraft was at fault during the encounter and
said it intercepted two US reconnaissance aircraft as they "approached
the Russian state border."
There
were more than 30 interactions between Russian and US aircraft and ships
near the Baltic Sea in the month of June, a US official told CNN at the
time.
US F-22 Raptors were also dispatched on several occasions this summer to intercept Russian bombers and fighter jets flying off the coast of Alaska.
The
US military sees these flights as routine and they are not a cause for
concern, the US official told CNN at the time. The US also conducts
similar flights off the coast of China and Russia.
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