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Monitoring Russian aircraft

Air Force Col. Frank Flores uses binoculars to look across the Bering Strait toward Siberia from Tin City, a long-range radar station in remote Alaska.

Air Force Col. Frank Flores uses binoculars to look across the Bering Strait toward Siberia from Tin City, a long-range radar station in remote Alaska.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

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Tin City, Alaska, is a tiny Air Force installation atop an ice-shrouded coastal mountain 50 miles below the Arctic Circle, far from any road or even trees. At least from this frozen perch, America’s closest point to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the Cold War is turning warm again.

Monitoring Russian aircraft

Radar technicians at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage monitor crescent-shaped blips, each representing an aircraft moving in Alaskan airspace.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Monitoring Russian aircraft

Named for an old mining camp, Tin City is a tiny Air Force installation atop an ice-shrouded coastal mountain 50 miles below the Arctic Circle.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Monitoring Russian aircraft

The Pentagon took over the remote Tin City site decades ago and built a long-range radar station to help detect a surprise attack from the Soviet Union.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Monitoring Russian aircraft

Military personnel depart the Tin City radar station near the Bering Strait.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Monitoring Russian aircraft

An F-22 takes off from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.   (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Monitoring Russian aircraft

Military personnel climb near the Tin City radar station in Alaska, near the Bering Strait.   (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

Red star

A wall holds 261 plaques with red stars, each representing a U.S. intercept of Russian aircraft, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.  (Michael Dinneen / For The Times)

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