Air Sovereignty in High Arctic Tested by US,Canadian Forces in NORAD Exercise

The Canadian Armed Forces and US Air National Guard are deploying and conducting air sovereignty operations in the far north and high Arctic during NORAD Exercise VIGILANT SHIELD 17,the bi-national organisation says.This is to demonstrate their joint capacity to detect,identify and meet possible threats in some of the Earth's most austere regions.Aircraft and personnel from the two countries will operate and support each other successfully at multiple forward operating locations,a key goal of VIGILANT SHIELD 17,according to Major Tristan McKee,Canadian Detachment Commander in Yellowknife,Northwest Territories.*
Those deployed to Yellowknife,NT are the F-15 Eagles and personnel of 142nd Fighter Wing,US Air National Guard,Portland,Oregon,with Canadian personnel and equipment primarily from 4 Wing Cold Lake,Alberta.The annual drills are a forum for NORAD to practice deploying to a variety of locations across vast distances,yet still support and achieve a complex set of missions and objectives.Other locations of the exercise include 5 Wing Goose Bay,Inuvik,Northwest Territories and Canadian Forces Station Alert,Nunavut.VIGILANT SHIELD 17 runs from 17-21 October 2016.*
Among the deployed assets in the drills are:CF-18 Hornet;CH-149 Cormorant;CC-130H Hercules;F-15 Eagle;F-22 Raptor;E-3 Sentry;KC-135 (USAF) Stratotanker with hundreds of maintainers and other aviation support personnel,as well as Canadian Army security forces.*
NORAD,the North American Aerospace Defense Command,is the bi-national command providing aerospace warning;aerospace control;and maritime warning in defence of North America.