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Press Releases
Press Release | Jan. 26, 2015

NORAD exercise planned for Super Bowl XLIX

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The Continental Region NORAD (CONR & Western Air Defense Sector) here will conduct Exercise Falcon Virgo 15-SB (Super Bowl XLIX) Jan. 27.

This exercise comprises a series of training flights held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, Continental, U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region (CONR), Air Force F-16 aircraft, Customs and Border Patrol helicopter and fixed wing and Civil Air Patrol aircraft, Cessna 182s.

Exercise Falcon Virgo is designed to test CONR-WADS intercept and identification operations with a variety of scenarios involving possible hostile aircraft. Residents in the Phoenix, Gila Bend and Chandler areas of Arizona may observe USAF -16 aircraft, Customs (Helicopter and fixed wing) and/or Civil Air Patrol aircraft participating in the exercise between 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. Jan. 27 when flights are scheduled to occur.

In the event of inclement weather the exercise will be canceled.

These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure WADS’s rapid response capability. WADS has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the western region since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

WADS and its eastern counterpart - Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) in Rome, N.Y., are part of the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region (CONR). CONR, as the continental United States (CONUS) geographical component of the bi-national command NORAD, provides airspace surveillance and control, and directs air sovereignty activities for the CONUS region. CONR and its assigned Air Force assets throughout the country ensure air safety and security against potential air threats.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD fighters have responded to more than 2,100 possible air threats in the United States, Canada and Alaska, and have flown more than 42,000 sorties with
 the support of Airborne Warning and Control System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft.

For more information on flight-training exercises, please contact the AFNORTH Public Affairs at (850) 283-8080 or the NORAD Public Affairs Office at (719) 554-6889.
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