The United States, Canada, and Russia will cooperatively respond to mock hijacked commercial aircraft during the live-fly portion of Vigilant Eagle 13 that kicks off on Tuesday over the Bering Sea. The first hijacked aircraft surrogate is slated to take off on Aug. 27 from Anchorage, Alaska, and will travel into Russian airspace. On Aug. 28, a surrogate will take off from Anadyr, Russia, and head into US airspace. In both scenarios, Canadian CF-18s and Russian Sukhois will scramble to identify and follow the hijacked aircraft. They will also practice handing off control of the aircraft to one another when it leaves one side’s airspace. Air Force and Russian command and control aircraft will also participate. “This is a small, relatively inexpensive exercise, with a huge payoff,” said Joseph Bonnet, NORAD’s director of joint training and exercises. The exercise runs through Friday. This is the fifth iteration of the Vigilant Eagle series since 2008 and the third in the series to incorporate a live-fly air defense component. (NORAD release) (AFPS report by Donna Miles)
The Air Force’s study of possible links to elevated rates of cancer among personnel who worked on intercontinental continental ballistic missiles has begun, the commander in charge of the U.S. ICBM fleet confirmed March 28. The initial phase of that study will mine cancer registries for information and compile a…