NORAD Exercise

[jeff]

NORAD Exercise Planned for Wednesday Night April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - If you hear and see a lot military planes and helicopters Wednesday night and early Thursday, it's just an exercise.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command will be conducting Exercise Falcon Virgo 07-07.

According to a news release, the training flights will be held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region Command Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, CONUS NORAD Region, Eastern Air Defense Sector, Western Air Defense Sector, Civil Air Patrol and the US Coast Guard Rotary Wing Air Intercept.

The exercise is designed to test NORAD's intercept and identification operations.

 

[nycrich]

Funny it seems to have started already in Fl orida since Monday. I have heard a high volume of AWACS/JSTARS traffic over central Florida, namely Avon Park. It has been the most callsigns I've logged relating to NORAD/JSTARS/AWACS, etc in these few days.I heard alot of airborne intercept/simulated on regular ATC here 133.475(4/17/07) with callsigns ANTIDOTE, HORSEMEN, BEAR,JAGUAR, ORION( P-3), STARGATE,COASTAL which now might make some sense. I all my 20years of scanning, Ive never heard ACM activity on a regular 118-137Mhz band. Also a lot of reference to using satcom channels, as opposed to the regular mil-air band.

 

[TinEar]

Funny it seems to have started already in Fl orida since Monday. I have heard a high volume of AWACS/JSTARS traffic over central Florida, namely Avon Park. It has been the most callsigns I've logged relating to NORAD/JSTARS/AWACS, etc in these few days.I heard alot of airborne intercept/simulated on regular ATC here 133.475(4/17/07) with callsigns ANTIDOTE, HORSEMEN, BEAR,JAGUAR, ORION( P-3), STARGATE,COASTAL which now might make some sense. I all my 20years of scanning, Ive never heard ACM activity on a regular 118-137Mhz band. Also a lot of reference to using satcom channels, as opposed to the regular mil-air band.

That's been quite an exercise around the Avon Park Range that you've been listening to. I've gotten a few reports on it from MilAir listeners down that way. However, it's not the exercise Jeff posted about in the first message. That one is another in the Falcon Virgo series of exercises run every few weeks in the D.C. area to test the defenses against intruding aircraft. They're fairly interesting - the first half dozen times you hear them but then get repititious after awhile. I guess that's the purpose though. Keep repeating it until you can do it in your sleep. The exercise generally starts near midnight and runs until the early morning hours. The primary event for listeners is the scramble of F-16s from Andrews in response to the incoming threat. Anyway, enjoy your Avon Park Range exercise while it lasts. There are some A-10s from a unit up this way - the PA-ANG at Willow Grove participating in it. I know both MAD HOG and FLYER flights went down that way at the end of last week to participate and have been heard at Avon Park this week. Have you been listening to the HF freq involved - 8971 USB?

 

[nycrich]

I found out that it is the Atlantic Strike V exercise. I don't want to go in detail because the next post has a link describing it. FLYER & MAD HOG is involved, and they are stationed at McDill AFB, FL. I have not listened to any HF. I am running 10 scanners at the same time on VHF/UHF and that is keeping me very busy with milair comms
Regards,
Richard.
Tampa Bay, FL