Exercise Vigilant Eagle is a series of trilateral military exercises involving the armed forces of Canada, Russia, and the United States. The exercise is designed to prepare the Russian Air Force and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to undertake coordinated air intercept missions against hijacked civilian aircraft. Four such exercises have been held.
Billed by its Russian, American, and Canadian participants as a first-of-its-kind exercise for the former Cold War adversaries, Vigilant Eagle was described by Russian Air Force Col. Alexander Vasilyev as a means to "develop procedures and bring the relationship between our countries closer together to unite our countries in the fight against terrorism”. [1] The groundwork for Vigilant Eagle was laid in a June 2003 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia between President of the United States George W. Bush and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Coming less than two years after the September 11 attacks, and in the aftermath of an increase in Russian-American tensions resulting from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the meeting saw progress in developing informal comity for bilateral cooperation in areas of anti-terrorism. [2] [1]
The first Vigilant Eagle exercise was planned for 2008 but postponed until 2010 due to the South Ossetia War. [3] According to the U.S. government, that exercise marked "the first live-flying event between Russia and the United States since the Second World War." [4]
A second Exercise Vigilant Eagle was held in 2011. In the exercise scenario, a U.S. civilian airliner operating near the Russia–United States northern border was seized by terrorists and flown towards Russia. The scenario was then repeated in reverse, with an aircraft originating in Russian airspace violating NORAD's Alaskan Air Defense Sector where it was intercepted and "repelled from North American airspace." [5]
The exercise tested the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration to contact both Russian Air Force and NORAD authorities and of NORAD and the Russian Air Force to effectively liaise with each other in tracking and intercepting the hijacked aircraft. The aircraft used to represent the U.S. airliner was a civilian-crewed passenger aircraft chartered from Global Aviation. [4]
Vigilant Eagle 2012 was a command post exercise (CPX) held in 2012 that, for the first time, did not include live-flying aircraft, instead using computer simulations. [6] [7]
Exercise Vigilant Eagle 2013 was conducted in August 2013. [8] The exercise again involved a live-flying element with CF-18s of the Royal Canadian Air Force intercepting a civilian airliner west of Denali after the aircraft reported a "hijacking" following take-off from Ted Stevens International Airport. The mission was then handed off to the Russian Air Force as the aircraft passed over the international boundary. [9] After completion of the mission, the exercise was repeated in reverse with a Russia-originating aircraft reporting a "hijacking" on an approach toward the international boundary. [10]
A planned Vigilant Eagle 2014 was suspended due to tensions between the United States and Canada on one side, and the Russian Federation on the other, over the War in Donbass. The exercise would have involved, for the first time, the Japan Air Self Defense Force. [11] According to American and Canadian officials, the exercises were canceled at their initiative. [12]
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. Dating from the earliest of hijackings, most cases involve the pilot being forced to fly according to the hijacker's demands. There have also been incidents where the hijackers have overpowered the flight crew, made unauthorized entry into the cockpit and flown them into buildings – most notably in the September 11 attacks – and in several cases, planes have been hijacked by the official pilot or co-pilot; e.g., Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702.
North American Aerospace Defense Command, known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection for Canada and the continental United States.
Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) is the United States and Canadian military operation related to homeland security and support to federal, state, and local agencies. The operation began 11 September 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks.
Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about 350 km (220 mi) north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operations in Canada, under the Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters, also in Winnipeg. It is also home to the 1 Air Force, Detachment 2 of the United States Air Force.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1993.
Global Guardian is an annual training exercise sponsored by the United States Strategic Command in conjunction with Air Force Space Command and NORAD. Its main purpose is to test the military's command and control procedures in the event of nuclear warfare.
On September 11, 2001, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was involved in an ongoing operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to northeastern North America. The U.S. Military and NORAD had also planned to conduct several military exercises and a drill was being held by the National Reconnaissance Office, a Department of Defense agency. The operations, exercises and drills were all canceled following the September 11 attacks.
Exercise Red Flag is a two-week advanced aerial combat training exercise held several times a year by the United States Air Force. It aims to offer realistic air-combat training for military pilots and other flight crew members from the United States and allied countries.
The 142nd Wing is a unit of the Oregon Air National Guard and the United States Air Force, stationed at Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon.
The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defence Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace above the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Operation Sky Shield, properly Exercise Sky Shield, was a series of three large-scale military exercises conducted in the United States and Canada in 1960, 1961, and 1962 by NORAD Command and CONAD Command to test defenses against an air attack from the Soviet Union. The tests were intended to ensure that any attacks over the American–Canadian border or coastlines would be detected and then stopped.
Red Flag-Alaska is a realistic, ten-day air combat United States Air Force (USAF) training exercise held up to four times a year. It is held at Eielson Air Force Base and Elmendorf Air Force Base in the State of Alaska. Each Red Flag-Alaska exercise is a multi-service, multi-platform coordinated, combat operations exercise and corresponds to the designed operational capability of participating units. In other words, exercises often involve several units whose military mission may differ significantly from that of other participating units. Red Flag-Alaska planners take those factors into consideration when designing exercises so participants get the maximum training possible without being placed at an unfair advantage during simulated combat scenarios.
Falcon Virgo is a series of exercises designed to test airspace security, especially around major American cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. They involve both regular military fighter aircraft and air operations centers and Civil Air Patrol forces.
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners in the United States and tried to crash them into large buildings, succeeding in three cases. American Airlines Flight 11, having departed from Boston, was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46. United Airlines Flight 175, also leaving from Boston, struck the South Tower at 09:03. American Airlines Flight 77, from Washington Dulles International Airport, hit the Pentagon at 09:37. United Airlines Flight 93, from Newark Liberty International Airport, was crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03, after the passengers on board revolted.
On September 11, 2001, Korean Air Flight 085 was en-route to Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, when information about the September 11 attacks was relayed to the crew. The pilot in command's ACARS message reply included the letters "HJK", a prompt interpreted as a distress signal indicating that the flight had been hijacked. When ordered to squawk 7500, the pilot complied, despite miscommunication that implied he would disregard the instruction.
Air sovereignty is the fundamental right of a sovereign state to regulate the use of its airspace and enforce its own aviation law – in extremis by the use of fighter aircraft.
The 123d Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Oregon Air National Guard 142d Fighter Wing located at Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon. The 123d is equipped with the McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle.
On 23 June 2014, a German Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet and a Learjet 35 business jet participating in a military exercise collided mid-air over Olsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Learjet subsequently crashed to the ground with the loss of both crew members on board. The Typhoon was damaged but managed to land safely.