PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – The North American Aerospace Defense Command will be conducting exercises in northwestern Washington and southwestern British Columbia Aug. 12-13. These exercises, dubbed Fabric Virgo for the Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) and Falcon Virgo for the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR), are being carried out in support of preparations for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Residents in the exercise areas may hear aircraft noise and perhaps see aircraft flying at various times throughout the two-day period.
Comprised of a series of training flights held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NAV CANADA (NAVCAN), these exercises are designed to hone NORAD’s intercept and identification operations. They are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure NORAD’s rapid response capability. NORAD has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout Canada and the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001.
NORAD is a bi-national Canadian and American command that employs a network of space, air, and ground-based sensors, air-to-air refueling tankers and fighter aircraft, controlled by a sophisticated command and control network in order to deter, detect and defend against aerial threats that originate outside or within North American airspace.