PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Two F-16 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a single engine civilian aircraft Northeast of Tuscon, Ariz., July 1, at approximately 12:50 Central Time.
The civilian aircraft, which was flying without a flight plan near the Arizona-Mexico border, was intercepted near Tuscon, Ariz. The F-16s out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., escorted the aircraft out of the area and it landed at Tuscon International Airport, Ariz., without incident. The pilot was met by local authorities.
NORAD's mission – in close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law enforcement partners - is to prevent air attacks against North America, safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada by responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating within these airspaces, and provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America. NORAD may be required to monitor, shadow, divert from flight path, direct to land and/or destroy platforms deemed a potential threat to North America.
NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The command is poised both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to provide a multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent potential threats flying over the airspace of the United States and Canada.