TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region (CONR) fighters, along with its interagency partners, will be busy well before Super Bowl Sunday preparing to protect the skies around the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Just like Super Bowl teams, CONR and its interagency partners practice before the game.
Individuals in and around the East Rutherford area can expect flights to begin Jan. 29 around 4:30 a.m. EST and continue for approximately one hour.
Exercise Amalgam Virgo 14-01, a NORAD air-defense exercise, will be conducted Wednesday in the greater East Rutherford area so interagency partners can practice procedures for responding to airspace violations.
The Amalgam Virgo exercise is a series of training flights in coordination with the FAA, FBI, Customs and Border Protection, Civil Air Patrol, the 601st Air and Space Operations Center, and the CONR’s Eastern Air Defense Sector. These agencies are part of America’s team for defense of the air space around the nation.
If inclement weather occurs, officials will make a decision to postpone or cancel the exercise.
“There are a lot of interagency partners involved in the air defense of this year’s Super Bowl,” said Lt. Gen. William Etter, CONR commander. “With multiple agencies involved, coordination between all air-defense partners is crucial. This exercise allows all of the interagency partners to come together before the game to hone their air defense skills and ensure communications are working properly.”
These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure CONR’s rapid response capability. CONR has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the U.S. since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s ongoing response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“On Super Bowl Sunday and every other day the men and women of the Continental U.S. NORAD Region are on watch making sure our skies are safe,” Etter said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, CONR fighters have responded to more than 5,000 possible air threats in the United States and have flown more than 62,500 sorties with the support of Airborne Warning andControl System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft for Operation Noble Eagle.