Detachment 2, First Air Force is a United States Air Force (USAF) Air Combat Command detachment located in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The detachment consists of active duty uniformed members including: aerospace control and warning operators, communications personnel, personnel specialists, knowledge operations manager, and a medical liaison. The only USAF detachment in North Bay, it does not function as a stand-alone unit like the stateside air control squadrons; rather, our personnel are integrated into various squadrons and directorates assigned to 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base North Bay. All communication, education, finance, and legal needs are handled at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.

Mission Statement
"To advance the shared defense of North America by providing the world's strongest Airmen to support and conduct aerospace surveillance, identification, control and warning to the Canadian Air Defense Sector."

22 Wing
Det 2, 1 AF is a tenant unit under Canada's 22 Wing. 22 Wing provides surveillance, identification, control, and warning for the aerospace defense of Canada and North America.

Radar information received via satellite from the North Warning System across the Canadian Arctic, coastal radars on the east and west coasts of Canada, and airborne warning and control system aircraft is collected and analyzed by operators on site. These operators are experts in surveillance and identification of all air traffic approaching North America, which amounts to some 200,000 flights per year.

All aircraft penetrating this radar coverage are detected and identified by the personnel of 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron, who are always on guard--24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Unidentified aircraft, aircraft in distress, or aircraft suspected of conducting illegal activities may be intercepted by Canadian CF-18 fighters.

Critical information on air sovereignty events is forwarded to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, where it is in turn passed on to the command authorities--the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada--to decide on the appropriate responses.

Training of the personnel who perform the air sovereignty mission is done by 51 AC&W (Operational Training) Squadron, an integral unit of 22 Wing.

Due to this binational nature of the NORAD agreement, Det 2, 1 AF provides US personnel to support the mission of the Canadian Air Defense Sector (CADS).

NORAD Mission
NORAD continuously provides worldwide detection, validation and warning of a ballistic missile attack on North America and maintains continental detection, validation, warning and aerospace control of air-breathing threats to North America, to include peacetime alert levels and appropriate aerospace defense measures to respond to hostile actions against North America.