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NORAD exercise planned for Washington D.C.

  • Published
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR) will conduct Exercise Falcon Virgo 06-05 in the National Capital Region (Washington, D.C.) February 8-10. The exercise comprises a series of training flights conducted in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region Command Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, the Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Air Force Flight Standards Agency, and the Northeast Air Defense Sector at Rome, N.Y.

Exercise Falcon Virgo 06-05 is designed to test intercept and identification operations. It will involve NORAD F-16 fighter aircraft out of Andrews AFB and Langley AFB, as well as, other aircraft from federal agencies flying at low altitudes along the Potomac River and around Washington, D.C., late night and early morning from Wednesday through Friday. In the event of inclement weather, the exercise will roll over to Sunday.

NORAD has conducted exercises of this nature throughout the United States and Canada since the start of Operation Noble Eagle started after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. These ongoing exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure NORAD's rapid response capability.

As the continental United States (CONUS) geographical component of the bi-national North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), CONR provides airspace surveillance and control and directs all air sovereignty activities for the CONUS. CONR and its assigned U.S. Air Force forces throughout the country ensure air safety and security against potential air threats and have supported special events, such as the G-8 Summit, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the State of the Union Address, and the Super Bowl.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD fighters have responded to more than 2,000 possible air threats in the United States, Canada and Alaska and have flown more than 40,000 sorties with the support of Airborne Warning and Control System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft.

For more information on these Falcon Virgo flight-training exercises, please contact CONR Public Affairs at (850) 283-8659 or the on-call CONR Public Affairs Duty Officer (after 5 p.m. CST) at (850) 625-9814.