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NORAD NEWS
News | May 7, 2013

WADS conducts air defense exercise over central Arizona

By NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The Western Air Defense Sector here will conduct air defense exercise Felix Hawk over the Phoenix area of central Arizona May 9, 2013. Felix Hawk is designed to test WADS’ intercept and identification procedures for a variety of scenarios involving possible hostile aircraft. Residents in the Phoenix, Ariz. areas may observe F-16, C-21, and Civil Air Patrol aircraft participating in the exercise between 10:00 a.m. and 1 p.m. PDT. These training flights are coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.

In the event of inclement weather the exercise will be canceled.

These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure WADS’s rapid response capability. WADS has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the western region since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

WADS and its eastern counterpart - Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y., are part of the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. CONR, as the continental United States geographical component of the bi-national command NORAD, provides airspace surveillance and control, and directs air sovereignty activities for the CONUS region. CONR and its assigned Air Force assets throughout the country ensure air safety and security against potential air threats.