PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Two F-15 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a general aviation aircraft over Titusville Fla., today.
The fighters scrambled from Homestead AFB and intercepted a Cessna 441 twin engine aircraft at approximately 1:30 p.m. MDT after it remained out of communication with air controllers. Following the intercept, the Cessna pilot re-established communication with the FAA and was permitted to continue their flight without further incident.
In close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law enforcement partners, NORAD’s mission 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 to provide aerospace and maritime warning for 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.
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