TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.. -- The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its geographical component, the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR), will conduct Exercise Amalgam Arrow 10-05 Thursday. The short duration exercise will take place from 11 a.m. to noon Central Time over the skies of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration,the exercise is designed to hone NORAD and CONR’s intercept and identification operations. These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure NORAD's rapid response capability.
An Air Force C-21 jet will take on the role as a track of interest.
CONR, along with its Eastern and Western Air Defense Sectors, provides airspace surveillance and control and directs all air sovereignty activities over the continental United States.
The Eastern Air Defense Sector based in Rome, N.Y., will scramble Air Force F-16 fighters from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing in Madison and direct them to intercept the C-21.
NORAD and CONR have conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the U.S. and Canada since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command's response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD has responded to more than 2,300 possible air threats in the United States and has flown more than 55,000 sorties with the support of Airborne Warning and Control System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft.