It's pretty much a given that they'll be intercepted before they reach legal Alaskan airspace, and a dead certainty that they would never manage to reach the co

It's pretty much a given that they'll be intercepted before they reach legal Alaskan airspace, and a dead certainty that they would never manage to reach the contiguous United States. However, I've been told by people in a position to know that the actual game is to attempt to intercept the Russian planes before they get within cruise missile range of Anchorage. The USAF doesn't always manage to do that.