PETERSON
AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – A U.S. Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin under the
direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a general
aviation aircraft that was out of communications in the Special Flight Rules
Area over Washington, D.C. at approximately 9:30 a.m. MT this morning.
The aircraft
was intercepted and directed to land at Maryland General Airport in Indianhead,
MD.
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 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.