About 130 U.S. soldiers are returning to their bases after being deployed to a remote Alaska island amid a spike in Russian military activity off the western reaches of the U.S.

Two Russian military aircraft were "detected and tracked" on Friday in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, marking the second detection of the week, the U.S. military said. "The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,

Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week.

US Army soldiers were deployed to a remote island southeast of Alaska last week as part of a “force protection operation” amid an expected increase in Russian and Chinese military exercises in the region,

The U.S. military has moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian chain of western Alaska amid a recent increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching American territory.

Russian military planes and navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conducted joint drills.

The U.S. military has stationed around 130 soldiers and mobile rocket launchers on an uninhabited island in the Aleutian chain in western Alaska. This move follows increased activity by Russian and Chinese military forces near U.