NORAD alert F-15Cs conducted air intercept exercises against light aircraft flown by the Civil Air Patrol over New Hampshire earlier this week, Massachusetts’ WLPP-22 News reported. The Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing conducted the Fertile Keynote exercise to maintain proficiency for its air defense commitment as part of Operation Noble Eagle. NORAD’s Eastern Air Defense Sector, which has alert responsibility for the eastern half of the continental United States, also conducted a second intercept exercise near Savannah, Ga., NORAD announced. A third exercise over the National Capital Region early Wednesday morning was scrubbed, NORAD spokeswoman Joann Missey told Air Force Magazine, Nov. 18. Small-scale Fertile Keynote exercises comple?ment NORAD’s larger scale exercises, such as the Falcon Virgo, which additionally tests the Washington D.C. region’s command and control, interagency cooperation, and early warning systems, and was rescheduled for later in the week. The 104th FW from Barnes ANGB, Mass., also conducted a Fertile Keynote back in October.
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…