PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will conduct exercise flights on Thursday from mid to late morning Mountain Time as they practice intercept and identification procedures. Exercise flights will take place over Western Kansas,Southeast Colorado, and Eastern New Mexico.
With the exception of those living near the cities of Alamogordo, NM, Lamar and La Junta, CO and White Sands Missile Range, most people will not see or hear the exercises. Those living in the previously-mentioned areas may hear and/or see NORAD-controlled fighter jets in close proximity to one of the following U.S. Air Force aircraft, a C-182, C-21 or a C-206, which will be taking on the role of a Track of Interest (TOI).
In order to test responses, systems and equipment, NORAD continuously conducts exercises with a variety of scenarios. These exercises are carefully planned, closely controlled and include exercising airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responding to unknown aircraft.
NORAD has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout Canada and the U.S. since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.
NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that provides maritime warning, aerospace warning and aerospace defense for Canada and the United States. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.