A China-flagged analysis vessel was detected Friday off the coast of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard stated.
The Coast Guard reported Saturday that the Xue Lengthy 2, an icebreaker, was detected about 290 nautical miles north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, within the U.S. Arctic.
The Xue Lengthy 2 is operated by China’s Polar Analysis Institute.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak detects and responds to the China-flagged analysis ship Xue Lengthy 2 on the U.S. Prolonged Continental Shelf within the U.S. Arctic, roughly 290 nautical miles north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, on July 25, 2025.
U.S. Coast Guard picture courtesy of Air Station Kodiak
The ship was within the U.S.’s Prolonged Continental Shelf, or ECS, which is a portion of the continental shelf that goes past 200 miles nautical miles off the coast, in response to the State Division. The ship was decided to be 130 nautical miles contained in the ECS.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules, a long-range surveillance plane, responded to the ship. The Coast Guard additionally launched a photograph of the vessel.
“The U.S. Coast Guard, alongside partners and other agencies, vigilantly monitors and responds to foreign government vessel activity in and near U.S. waters to secure territorial integrity and defend sovereign interests against malign state activity,” stated Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District, in an announcement.
In an announcement supplied to the CBC Tuesday, Maj. Alexander Naraine, a spokesperson for the navy’s joint operations centre stated that the Xue Lengthy 2 was “not currently in Canadian territorial waters.”
Canada was utilizing a Lockheed CP-140 Aurora plane based mostly out of Alaska to “actively” monitor the Chinese language ship, Naraine stated.
This comes after 4 Russian navy planes have been noticed and tracked flying close to the Alaskan coast Tuesday by North American Aerospace Protection Command.
The plane flew by means of a bit of worldwide airspace known as the Alaskan Air Protection Identification Zone. Whereas the Alaska ADIZ is taken into account a part of worldwide airspace, it’s outlined as an space the place sovereign U.S. airspace ends however “that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” in response to NORAD.
In January, American and Canadian fighter jets have been scrambled after Russian warplanes have been additionally noticed within the Arctic, NORAD stated. The Russian warplanes remained in worldwide airspace.
And in July 2024, the U.S. intercepted a number of Chinese language or Russian bombers close to the Alaskan coast. On the time, a U.S. protection officers stated it marked the primary time ever that Russian and Chinese language plane have collectively entered the Alaska ADIZ, and the primary time Chinese language H-6s have encroached off Alaska.
Eleanor Watson,
Emily Mae Czachor and
Stephen Smith
contributed to this report.
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