NORAD

Alaskan

The Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) maintains continuous capability to detect, validate and warn off any atmospheric threat in its area of operations from its Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC) at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.

ANR maintains the readiness to conduct a continuum of aerospace control missions, which include daily air sovereignty in peacetime, contingency and deterrence in time of tension, and active air defense against manned and unmanned air-breathing atmospheric vehicles in times of crisis.

ANR is supported by both active duty and reserve units. Active duty forces are provided by 11 AF and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and reserve forces provided by the Alaska Air National Guard. Both 11 AF and the CAF provide active duty personnel to the ROCC to maintain continuous surveillance of Alaskan airspace.

Canadian

Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters is at CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was established on 22 April 1983.^[9] It is responsible for providing surveillance and control of Canadian airspace. The Royal Canadian Air Force provides alert assets to NORAD. CANR is divided into two sectors, the Canada East Sector and Canada West Sector. Both Sector Operations Control Centers (SOCCs) are co-located at CFB North Bay, Ontario. The routine operation of the SOCCs includes reporting track data, sensor status and aircraft alert status to NORAD headquarters. In 1996, CANR was renamed 1 Canadian Air Division and moved to CFB Winnipeg.

Canadian air defense forces assigned to NORAD include 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta and 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron at CFB Bagotville, Quebec. All squadrons fly the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft.^[10]

To monitor for drug trafficking, the Canadian NORAD Region monitors all air traffic approaching the coast of Canada, in cooperation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the United States drug law enforcement agencies.^[11] Any aircraft that has not filed a flight plan may be directed to land and be inspected by RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency.

Continental U.S.

This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2014)

The Continental NORAD Region (CONR) is the component of NORAD that provides airspace surveillance and control and directs air sovereignty activities for the Contiguous United States (CONUS). Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, CONR has been the lead agency for Operation Noble Eagle, an ongoing mission to protect the continental United States from airborne attacks.^[12]

CONR is the NORAD designation of the United States Air Force First Air Force/AFNORTH. Its headquarters is located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The First Air Force (1 AF) became responsible for the USAF air defense mission in September 1990. AFNORTH is the United States Air Force component of United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM).

1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH comprises Air National Guard Fighter Wings assigned an air defense mission to 1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH on federal orders, made up primarily of citizen Airmen. The primary weapons systems are the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.

It plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and ensures air sovereignty and provides for the unilateral defense of the United States. A combined First Air Force command post is at Tyndall Air Force Base. The US East ROCC (Eastern Air Defense Sector), Sector Operations Control Center (SOCC) is at Rome, New York. The US West ROCC (Western Air Defense Sector) control center is at McChord Field, Washington. Both maintain continuous surveillance of CONUS airspace.

In its role as the CONUS NORAD Region, 1 AF/CONR-AFNORTH also performs counter-drug surveillance operations.

1968 reorganization

United States Department of Defense realignments for the NORAD command organization began on 15 November 1968 (e.g., Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM)).^[26] By 1972, there were eight NORAD "regional areas ... for all air defense".^[27] The NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex Improvements Program (427M System)^[25] became operational in 1979.^[28]

False alarms

On at least three occasions, NORAD systems failed, such as on 9 November 1979, when a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape, but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide.^[29] On 3 June 1980, and again on 6 June 1980, a computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place.^[30]

During these incidents, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) properly had their planes loaded with nuclear bombs in the air. Strategic Air Command (SAC) did not and received criticism,^{[by whom?]} because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms, as did PACAF.^{[citation needed]} Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply did not match the erroneous data received from NORAD.^{[citation needed]}

1980 reorganization

Following the 1979 Joint US-Canada Air Defense Study, the command structure for aerospace defense was changed, e.g., "SAC assumed control of ballistic missile warning and space surveillance facilities" on 1 December 1979 from ADCOM.^[31]: 48 The Aerospace Defense Command major command ended 31 March 1980. Its organizations in Cheyenne Mountain became the "ADCOM" specified command under the same commander as NORAD,^[23] e.g., HQ NORAD/ADCOM J31 manned the Space Surveillance Center.

In 1982, a NORAD Off-site Test Facility^[32] was located at Peterson AFB.^[33] The DEW Line was to be replaced with the North Warning System (NWS), the Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radar was to be deployed, more advanced fighters were deployed, and E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft were planned for greater use. These recommendations were accepted by the governments in 1985. The United States Space Command was formed in September 1985 as an adjunct, but not a component of NORAD.

NORAD was renamed North American Aerospace Defense Command in March 1981.

Post–Cold War

In 1989, NORAD operations expanded to cover counter-drug operations, for example, tracking of small aircraft entering and operating within the United States and Canada.^[34] DEW line sites were replaced between 1986 and 1995 by the North Warning System. The Cheyenne Mountain site was upgraded, but none of the proposed OTH-B radars are currently in operation.

After the September 11 attacks, the NORAD Air Warning Center's mission included the interior airspace of North America.^[35]

The Cheyenne Mountain Realignment^[36] was announced in July 2006, to consolidate NORAD's day-to-day operations at Peterson Air Force Base.^[37] Cheyenne Mountain remains on "warm standby", staffed with support personnel.

In film and television

The NORAD command center located under Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado is a setting of the 1983 film WarGames and the television series Jeremiah and Stargate SG-1. In the 2014 film Interstellar, NORAD dissolves and its headquarters is converted for NASA.^[42]

In season 25 episode 4 of the TV series South Park, NORAD is hacked into by Mr Mackey using late 1980s computer hardware.^[43]

Santa tracker

As a publicity move on 24 December 1955, NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), informed the press that CONAD was tracking Santa Claus's sleigh, adding that "CONAD, Army, Navy and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh on his trip to and from the U.S. against possible attack from those who do not believe in Christmas". A Christmas Eve tradition was born,^[44] known as the "NORAD Tracks Santa" program. Every year on Christmas Eve, "NORAD Tracks Santa" purports to track Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole and delivers presents to children around the world. Today, NORAD relies on volunteers to make the program possible.^[45]