A pair of F-15 fighter jets from the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base, will participate in a rapid response exercise Wednesday over New York state. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
ROME, N.Y. – The Eastern Air Defense Sector and the Continental North American Aerospace Defense Command Region will conduct an air defense exercise over Central New York on Wednesday, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Carefully planned and closely controlled, the exercise has been coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and will take place over a large area east of Rochester, north of Binghamton and south of Burlington, Vt.
The exercise will evaluate the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base. It is a “no-notice” exercise and tests the fighter wing’s ability respond rapidly and appropriately to airborne threats. Aircraft involved in the exercise include two F-15 fighter jets, an Air Force C-21 passenger jet and a Cessna 182 aircraft flown by the Civil Air Patrol. No aircraft will be visible from the ground during the exercise.
If weather forces cancellation on Wednesday, the exercise will take place in the same area, Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
CONR and its two sectors, EADS and the Western Air Defense Sector at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, are responsible for the air defense of the continental United States. CONR and the sectors conduct these types of exercises on a routine basis as part of North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Operation Noble Eagle, which was initiated after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
