(submitted photo/Senior Airman Kahdija Slaughter/354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs)

By Glenn Hicks

military response

Fighter jets scrambled over Prairies for exercise

May 8, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Canadian and US F-15 and CF-18 fighter jets and other aircraft were scrambled Wednesday for a situation northeast of Prince Albert, Hudson Bay and Edmonton. It was all a simulation under the command of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

Captain Cameron Hillier with the Royal Canadian Air Force said one of those simulations was for a potential rogue aircraft leaving Saskatoon, heading out toward Hudson Bay and then west toward Alberta.

“Typically these types of responses could include anything from an airspace restriction violation, or a hijacking, or just responding to an unknown aircraft in an unknown space,” he told paNOW from NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs.

The scenario over the Prairies involved a Top Aces Westwind aircraft being tracked by the fighter jets. NORAD routinely conducts these sorts of exercises which are carefully planned and controlled, according to Hillier. Commercial aviation routes are not impacted and as the mission happens at over 14,000 feet he said the public should not be affected. In other words there would be little to see or hear.

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Hillier added the exercise was all the more challenging because while the Prairie mission was underway there were also two other scenarios playing out over the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

“They have to manage their assets for all three scenarios at the same time,” he said. “So, they need to make a quick assessment of where their assets are, where they can address the threats and complete the mission.”

NORAD said in a media release it had identified and intercepted potential threats to North America for more than 60 years.

Operation Noble Eagle is the name given to the military response following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It applies to all air sovereignty and defence missions in North America.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow