The North American Aerospace Defense Command, headquartered in Colorado, announced Tuesday that it plans to conduct a cooperative air defense exercise with the Russian air force in early August. The focus of the joint exercise will be on combating terrorism. It will take place both in US and Russian airspace, including western Alaska and eastern Russia. NORAD said the exercise scenario calls for both US and Russian aircraft to monitor an international flight seized by terrorists. Obama Administration officials have said they hoped that US-Russia cooperation in strategic arms reduction would lead to greater bilateral cooperation in other defense areas.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.