The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will conduct a series of training flights over Washington this week in order to test its response capability to possible air threats.
NORAD and its geographical component, the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR), will conduct the regional exercise, called Falcon Virgo, Tuesday night through Friday morning between midnight and 5:30 a.m. each day, CONR said in a press release.
Exercise Falcon Virgo is designed to hone NORAD’s intercept and identification operations and to ensure CONR’s rapid response capability, the release said.
NORAD has conducted similar exercises throughout the nation and Canada as part of its response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The exercises come less than two weeks after the terror attacks in Paris, where 12 people were gunned down at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices and four Jews were killed at a kosher supermarket.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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