Shemya is two miles wide, four miles long and sits near the far western end of the Aleutian chain, closer to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula than to Anchorage. For the second half of October 2026, it was home to something it had not hosted in a long time: F-16 Fighting Falcons sitting air defense alert.

In a press release dated Thursday 29 October, NORAD said US Air Force F-16s maintained alert at Eareckson Air Station during an 18 to 26 October deployment, and launched a homeland defense mission from the island on Sunday 25 October. TWZ, reporting on 30 October, called it the first time in decades that F-16s have stood alert there.

Four Vipers, one long drive

Getting there is half the story. Eareckson lies about 1,600 miles from Eielson Air Force Base, the F-16s’ home near Fairbanks. Official photos show a four-ship of F-16s taking fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker on the way out on 18 October, the day the deployment began.

NORAD did not name the squadron in its release. Photo captions identify the jets as Eielson F-16s, and one shows a crew chief from the 18th Aircraft Maintenance Unit. TWZ names the 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, the Eielson unit that took that title in February 2024 after years as the 18th Aggressor Squadron.

It is a fitting return. The squadron flew P-38 Lightnings in the Aleutian Campaign of 1942 and 1943, when Shemya itself was carved into an airfield after American troops landed there in May 1943.

From alert to a two-nation mission

According to NORAD, the 25 October launch began under Operation NOBLE DEFENDER, a recurring NORAD air defense operation, and then transitioned to Operation NOBLE EAGLE in support of what the command called northern sovereignty operations. NORAD did not say what, if anything, prompted the launch, and did not report an intercept.

What it did describe was a big, layered fighter package. Two F-16s from Eareckson covered the southern part of the Alaska theater. F-35A Lightning IIs and more F-16s from Eielson worked the northwest, while Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornets from Cold Lake, Alberta, some 2,600 miles from Shemya, took the northern approaches.

Behind them, an E-3 Sentry from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ran command and control, several KC-135s and a Canadian CC-150 Polaris passed fuel, and an Air National Guard HC-130J Combat King II from the 211th Rescue Squadron provided search and rescue cover.

Proving the runway

One quieter line in the release may matter most for the future. During the deployment, the F-16s completed certification of Eareckson’s aircraft arresting system, the cable that catches a fighter on landing. NORAD said this further validates the island as a viable location for future fighter operations from an austere airfield.

Eareckson has a single 10,004-foot runway and has not been an active Air Force station since 1994. It still serves as a refuelling stop, a diversion field for airliners in trouble over the North Pacific, and the home of the giant Cobra Dane phased-array radar, operational there since 1977.

According to TWZ, F-4s and F-15s deployed to Shemya during the Cold War to counter Soviet aircraft, and routine fighter operations there ended in the early 1990s. F-16s have visited since, including in 2021, but not to stand alert.

Why the far west matters again

Alaska is where NORAD fighters regularly meet Russian aircraft. In September 2024, a Russian Su-35 flew within feet of a NORAD F-16 that was intercepting a Tu-95 bomber in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, and NORAD released the video.

AP footage released by NORAD in September 2024 of a Russian Su-35 flying within feet of an F-16 intercepting a Tu-95 near Alaska.

Standing alert from Eielson means a long flight before an F-16 even reaches the western Aleutians. Doing it from Shemya puts fighters at the edge of the approach instead. For nine days in October, NORAD showed it can still make that work on a windswept rock at the end of the chain.

Sources: NORAD / DVIDS (Alaskan NORAD Region press release, 29 October 2026), The War Zone, Task & Purpose, Military Times / Associated Press, Wikipedia (Eareckson Air Station; 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron)