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. The deployment of the 11th Airborne Division and two task forces included mobile rocket launchers and lasted about a 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,

Alaska Beacon reporter James Brooks says it coincides with Russia and China conducting joint military exercises in the Sea of Japan.

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

The deployment to Shemya Island involved soldiers from Alaska, Washington and Hawaii with the 11th Airborne Division and the 1st and 3rd Multi Domain Task Forces.

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.