Russia and China have conducted their first-ever joint submarine patrol in the Pacific. The patrol by diesel-electric attack submarines began in early August, and the Russian sub involved, the Volkhov, covered around 2,000 miles during its voyage from its Vladivostok base. The subs patrolled in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. China and Russia have been stepping up military cooperation in the past several years. In 2021, in a voyage billed as the first joint China-Russia naval patrol in the western Pacific, a flotilla of ten Chinese and Russian warships made a circumnavigation of Japan's main island. Joint air and sea patrols have occurred off Alaska since 2023, including a joint patrol of four China Coast Guard vessels and two Russian Border Guard vessels patrolling in the Bering Sea near the US-Russia maritime border last year. The USCG was monitoring the activities of five Chinese research ships in US Arctic waters this month.

NORAD responded to at least four flights of Russian surveillance planes into the Alaska air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the past week. Four flights in a week is unusual. Russian aircraft have been tracked in the ADIZ in single instances in July and April and twice in February this year. Military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, and Moscow and Pyongyang continue to increase. North Korea may warm up to China again as Kim Jong-un is reportedly attending the huge military parade in Beijing marking the victory over Japan in WWII. US allies in Asia are deeply concerned about the erratic Dummkopf Trumpf junta and how the US will respond to military aggression from the new axis of evil. Trumpf has also been purging experienced intelligence officers, generals, and admirals since beginning his second Reign of Terror on 20 Jan 2025. Links: NORAD.mil; AUKUS; Japan; Canada.