Russian jets buzz Cdn Arctic

Two long-range Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear missiles buzzed Canadian airspace on Friday morning, the North American Aerospace Defence Command said, days after a senior military officer warned that North America's early warning system is outdated.

The two TU-160 Blackjack bombers crossed the North Pole and approached Canada from western Russia, but remained in international airspace before departing, according to Norad.

Norad said it tracked the supersonic bombers as they flew through Canada's air defence identification zone, which is an area of international airspace the military monitors to protect against any possible attack, but did not scramble fighters to intercept the Russians.

It was the first time Russian bombers have been detected approaching North America since August, when Russia conducted a number of bomber flights in the Arctic, the Baltics and other places.

"Our adversaries continue to flex their long-range weapons systems and engage in increasingly aggressive efforts, to include the approaches to the United States and Canada," Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, the U.S. commander of Norad, said in a statement on Friday.

"Norad is driven by a single unyielding priority: defending the U.S. and Canada, our homelands, from attack."

This most recent flight follows increased warnings from Canadian and U.S. military officers, including O'Shaughnessy, that the technology underpinning the Norad system is obsolete.

The most recent officer to voice such concerns was Commodore Jamie Clarke, a Canadian who is Norad's deputy director of strategy. He said this week that Norad cannot identify and track long-range Russian bombers before they are close enough to launch missiles at the continent.