First Air Force, Detachment 1, a geographically separated unit of the Air Combat Command, consists of 14 active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel, including eight officers and six enlisted members. They are assigned to the First Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region at the Canadian Forces Base in Winnipeg. Their role is to support the bilateral NORAD Agreement between Canada and the U.S.

The detachment ensures a 24/7 U.S. communications link and provides Fighter, Logistics, Communications, Air Battle Management, and Intelligence personnel who directly support the CANR mission. Detachment 1 also offers administrative personnel support to a U.S. Air Force Brigadier General serving as the Deputy Combined Joint Force Air Component Commander.

As a tenant unit under the headquarters of Canada’s First Canadian Air Division, First Air Force, Detachment 1 personnel fulfill three mission areas in support of the CANR mission. These include providing administrative support to the Deputy Combined Joint Force Air Component Commander, functional support to the Combined Air Operations Center, and communications support to both the Deputy Combined Joint Force Air Component Commander and the Combined Air Operations Center.

The mission of the Canadian NORAD Region is to provide aerospace surveillance, identification, control and warning for the defence of Canada and North America.

Headquartered at 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANR executes a variety of tasks to defend Canadian airspace, including identifying and tracking all aircraft entering Canadian airspace, exercising operational command and control of all air defence forces in CANR and operations in support of other government departments and agencies.