PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Two F-16 fighters under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a general aviation aircraft that violated the temporary flight restricted area over Tidewater, Virginia today.
The fighters intercepted a PA 28 Piper at approximately 12:45 p.m. EDT after it entered the temporary flight restricted area and was out of radio communication. Following the intercept, the aircraft was permitted to continue its flight without further incident.
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.