Photo by Vince Fedoroff
TOUCHING DOWN – A Royal Canadian Airforce Airbus CC-150 Polaris laands Monday evening at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is conducting an Arctic air defence operation involving military aircraft and personnel from Canada and the United States until Thursday.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) began conducting Operation Noble Defender across northern Canada on Monday.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) began conducting Operation Noble Defender across northern Canada on Monday.
Yukoners may see some high-flying aircraft related to the multi-territory exercise.
The Arctic air defence operation involves military aircraft and personnel from Canada and the United States. It will end Thursday.
According to a news release, the recurring operation is designed to confirm the Canadian NORAD region’s capabilities to respond to both aircraft and cruise missiles threatening North America.
The operation is seeing Canadian CF-18 fighters operate from northern airfields to intercept aircraft role-playing as threats.
Fighter aircraft will be supported by Royal Canadian Air Force and United States Air Force air-to-air refueller aircraft.
“This operation demonstrates the effectiveness of our Canadian and American NORAD members to rapidly generate, deploy and employ air power to deter, and if necessary, defeat threats to North America,” said Major-General Eric Kenny, the commander of the Canadian NORAD region.
“Noble Defender further validates the Canadian NORAD region’s ability to operate effectively in even the most challenging of regions and in some of the harshest winter conditions in the world,” said Kenny.
Officials have said the exercise has been months in the planning and is not a sudden response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Our competitors’ offensive capabilities are rapidly increasing, and this includes their ability to operate in and through the Arctic,” added Gen. Glen VanHerck (USAF), commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command.
“Exercising with our allies and partners in the Arctic allows us to demonstrate our resiliency and to advance our operational capabilities that are critical for integrated deterrence and layered defence.
“The defence of North America is a team effort: the Canadian and American members of NORAD, and our military and civilian allies and partners, remain steadfast in our obligation of deterring threats, and if required, defending North America.”
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Comments (33)
Up 3 Down 1
Jeff Donaldson on Mar 21, 2022 at 2:44 pm
Anie,
Good for you and whatever you studied and or your career path and position attained and whatever your profession.
I do not care!
I never hide who I am and when I comment it is probably due to the clear fact the news story up here is a blatant misinformed story.
Oh great a Polaris as the main picture for this news story. Wow!!
I have requested aircraft for support during combat operations with the assistants of a Air Ground controller. Called in fire from M777s against Taliban forces during TICs from a Combat outpost. Lead probably 50 plus patrols as a Section commander leading from the front in IED and mine effected complex terrain in two Sh@t%^les and was thanked by my soldiers families once THEY ALL CAME HOME ALIVE.
Parachuted with 3 American units over a 24 1/2 year career 509th, 101st and the 82nd and attained over 120 Para drops and was a Qualified Canadian Jump Master.
Now the papers are saying that it is time to increase spending, devote to a real military and get it right this time. Ya same as 15 years ago before Afghanistan, then Bosnia then then the Navy issues and the miss managed Air Force planes and what ever else I have forgotten.
Now here comes Putin that the Latvians told me when I was there in 2015 was the real threat and guess what now… Here is a real peer military and we are not ready again. Soldiers take orders. Civilians get elected and give the orders.
Who’s fault is it Anie???? The ones with the Education…
Or the ones at the Sharp End…
Ask me again if I care.
I did it and like they say, those that can’t, Teach.
Up 3 Down 2
Anie on Mar 20, 2022 at 5:10 pm
Jeff Donaldson, before dismissing me, perhaps you might be curious about what I was studying, or what I accomplished in the decades since then. Ah yes, Petawawa - horses on the payroll. Enough said.
Up 5 Down 8
TheHammer on Mar 20, 2022 at 11:04 am
It's time we arranged a face to face meeting between Putin and bonanzajoe to get things sorted out.
Up 13 Down 1
Al on Mar 19, 2022 at 12:54 pm
@ Jeff Donaldson
I agree with you my friend.
We are where we are today because of complacency along with the inane thinking that an external threat will never touch us. Well, welcome to the real world. For years I have been labelled a hawk, when the truth was/is I deplore war. In fact I have yet to meet a comrade who believes otherwise. I have seen it and believe me those who have been there it is neither glorious nor fun. It is terrifying, even for the trained combat soldier, airmen or sailor. Death is everywhere. It permeates the air and is suffocating. Your senses become over heightened because you are living mostly on pure adrenaline which is exhausting. I have been, along with a number of vets, a strong advocate of maintaining our defensive posture...and now you know why.
I dread the thought of this country, or any country for that matter, being forced into conflict. Canada is incapable of putting troops, airmen or sailors into a theatre of operation. We lack leadership (thanks to Mr Socks for cleaning out our senior generals because, god forbid, they didn't fit the Liberal narrative), equipment and really well trained warriors are pretty much non-existent. A once proud military is all but a shell of it's former self.
Well we will pay a price for what we have not done. The price is not just the financial hit but it could very well be our future.
For those still in the service "who are truly motivated", I and many others from the past stand with you.
For the Politicians - every last one of you can go to hell. It is on you, you alone are responsible for our current standing.
How do you stop Putin? You hit him where it hurts. Right now we are treating him like we did Hitler - until it was too late. Punch him in the bloody nose - it is the only language he understands.
Up 9 Down 5
Jeff Donaldson on Mar 18, 2022 at 7:55 pm
Anie,
Ok lecture spared, wow Summer student…good for you. NDHQ has always been a joke as the Base Commanders like in Petawawa run the show. 1960 eh, good on you. I deployed 5 times on OUTCAN Operations and two combat operations so I will not be lectured by a 60s summer student.
Enjoy your freedom!
Up 7 Down 10
Snowball on Mar 18, 2022 at 3:40 pm
Peacekeepers of Canada need United States to protect Canadian's A**s.
Up 7 Down 1
Groucho d'North on Mar 18, 2022 at 10:53 am
Throughout history countries have been both allies and enemies. Following WWI nations around the globe created plans to deal with insurections from their neighbours. The USA's plan for Canada was called War Plan Red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red
Up 7 Down 3
Jake on Mar 18, 2022 at 5:44 am
I forgot to include in my examples below, that this likely became a necessity for Putin when the US prohibited Russia from selling Natural Gas to Europe after Russia just completed the Nordstrom pipeline and made agreements to do just that this fall.
Up 11 Down 3
Juniper Jackson on Mar 17, 2022 at 8:08 pm
Brant: Thank you.. Of course i meant Boyle.. My spell check occasionally does its own thing. Our armed forces have a history to be proud of..it's our government depriving them of the equipment they need, not only to save their lives, and protect ours, but to be an integral part of the worlds forces.
Up 20 Down 5
Jake on Mar 17, 2022 at 3:17 pm
Here is some fun stuff since we are talking about Ukraine (I might have said this before).
Catherine the Great took a contract with the King of England for 20,000 combat proven troops to put down the "American Revolution". (That would have changed world events!) Fortunately she backed out so she could put the troops into the Ukraine and Crimea to push out the Turks (which she did and they held it for centuries). THEN.......IRONY.....she (and Paul) arranged the sale of ALASKA to the new country.
Some more facts (but check before you believe me) the West turned down Russia (Putin directly) for membership in both NATO and then in the European Union when he asked. Same when he offered the West help on the "War on Terror" (we told him to "butt out"). We (The West) promised him in writing (including Warsaw Pact) and in direct communications during that whole time that we (The West) would NOT allow expansion of NATO (but we did, again and again and again).
No defending Putin here, but there is blame to go all around.
And irony as always.
As for the condition of our armed forces....the AVRO Arrow was too dangerous, all those Canadians went to NASA in the 60's, anybody else in the military when Paul Helyer and Justin's daddy did their thing? Jean Cretien " I will write NO HELICOPTERS when I get elected...".
I see the big push (aside from Ukraine) is Gun control today in other media!
If you think this is all an accident, well, get help for that.
Up 13 Down 9
Anie on Mar 17, 2022 at 3:07 pm
Jeff Donaldson, I worked at national defence headquarters as a summer student way back in the 1960's. It was a dysfunctional organization back then and it still is today. On a Friday afternoon, all the brass could be found at "E" building - the nearest hotel bar. Spare me the lecture on how it has deteriorated.
Up 11 Down 5
Resident on Mar 17, 2022 at 3:02 pm
That's pretty much what I'm saying. Canada will continue to exist as long as the US allows. We'd all be declared terrorists and crushed because US invasion would make for absolutely vicious Canadian partisans.
"Our favour" means "no one messes with my brother but me". And the US definitely pushes us around and steals our allowance.
Up 14 Down 5
ProScience Greenie on Mar 17, 2022 at 1:36 pm
bonanzajoe - The Founders were clear that they wanted a separation of church and state. They were well educated 'progressives' for their time and knew full well the dangers of theocracy aka state religion. Also being well educated they themselves were not very religious. As far as US right wing Christians go, their leaders are the biggest bunch of grifters, cheaters and sinners ever. They need to start following the words of their Christ. The Sermon on the Mount would be a good place for them to start. And you don't have to be right wing to be a good Christian. Nor do you have to be religious to be a good person.
Up 6 Down 9
It’s A Weird, Messed Up World In 2022 on Mar 17, 2022 at 10:33 am
@Resident, you are right on the money with the first paragraph of your comment. Unfortunately Canada is to the USA what Ukraine is to Russia and Russia said the same thing in that there is no way they will tolerate a hostile force (NATO) in Ukraine on their border. Can you imagine the Americans reaction if at one point Canada had said it was considering joining the Warsaw Pact or CIS? I don’t think a forced Canadian regime change or possible flat out invasion of Canada by the USA would have been out of the question in that unlikely scenario. The difference is that the US wouldn’t be deliberately targeting and murdering civilians like Russia currently is doing.
Up 17 Down 4
Enough Already on Mar 17, 2022 at 9:28 am
I know this exercise is NORAD but as far as NATO is concerned that defense organization needs to just flat out say if you want to be a member the price of admission is minimum 2% GDP per year on defense spending. If you don't meet 2% you are out, no ifs ands or buts and at the end of the day you are all getting a deal anyways because the USA's 2% is more than most the rest of NATO combined. 2% is the price for other NATO countries to come to your aid and put their soldiers in harms way. If that means that complete military deadbeat countries like Canada were shown NATO's door so be it as Canada has long been beyond embarrassing when it comes to the military budget and equipping our armed forces.
Up 8 Down 1
Brant on Mar 17, 2022 at 8:05 am
Juniper. Did you mean Joe Boyle instead of Doyle.
Up 13 Down 14
bonanzajoe on Mar 16, 2022 at 9:28 pm
Politico. Don't judge. Right wing Christian conservatives is what got you your freedom and democracy. It's the present marxist liberalism aka communism that is taking it away.
Up 10 Down 8
Jake on Mar 16, 2022 at 8:25 pm
@ Resident
Sort of....the US will never respond "In our favor". US military has killed between 5 and 10 million people in 37 countries since WW2. They killed 17,000 with drone strikes alone. And we agreed to it.
They have landlocked our energy and controlled all trade. We are the garden they are holding until they need it, and they will.
Remember the Aero? Nothing will change.
One Company of infantry will take and hold the Yukon. They can be here in 24 hours for "police action".
I think our hope is we go the way of Puerto Rico and not Cuba.
Up 36 Down 16
Liberalism Kills! on Mar 16, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Ha! Trudeau’s got you all fooled. All munitions have been removed from the flying antique show. They have been turned into a flying speaker system playing messages of diversity and inclusion. If the flying antique is fired upon it is protected with a shield of hope and love and Canadian goodwill…
And if it is blown out of the sky it release tens of thousands of coloured heart messages that tell the shooter they are loved, they are forgiven, it’s not their fault and they are simply manifesting their white privilege through an unconscious bias and that they can overcomes their Caucasian impulses.
Each of the coloured heart messages will include a link to Trudeau dancing the Banghra in costume… A dance for peace… A message of hope!
Of course this is satire but it seems more likely than not given the general state of disrepair of our military infrastructure… A once proud and capable military, much like the country itself, has become the laughing stock for the rest of the world - Thanks Libs!
Up 28 Down 10
Resident on Mar 16, 2022 at 1:10 pm
Canada has always relied on the US for defence and always will. There is no scenario where Canada would face invasion from an overseas force that does not invoke the US responding in our favour. The US will not tolerate a hostile force that close to its mainland. Otherwise it's the US doing the invading and we're completely screwed in that situation, no matter how much we beef up our military.
Canada's role should be to supply specialists. Expert teams that can be dispatched to aid our allies. Special operations, search and rescue, logistics, or engineering. These things we can do well. We will never be a good supply of bodies with guns.
Up 16 Down 39
Politico on Mar 16, 2022 at 11:23 am
@ Mike the threat to Canada is the right wing christian conservatives pushing their christian/thump religious beliefs on the majority of Canadians.
Up 21 Down 14
Trudeau needs a psych assessment! on Mar 16, 2022 at 11:00 am
Hopefully any conflict occurs during the summer because Trudeau had all the submarine hatches fitted for screen doors.
Up 21 Down 5
Anonymous on Mar 16, 2022 at 1:39 am
Weird flex. Those things don't stand a chance against a Russian Su-35.
Up 20 Down 10
Juniper Jackson on Mar 15, 2022 at 8:04 pm
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/us-rebukes-canada-over-chinese-takeover-of-norsat/article35294914/ When Xi Jinping wanted NORSAT, the Canadian tech giants that built parts of the code for NORSAD, no one in the world expected Canada to protect itself in any way. We don't have an 'armed forces' per se. We have "Peace Keepers". We have always depended on the US, as does Mexico, to protect North America. It's not just propaganda, but even before WWII, in WW1, media was reporting on the strength and capability of Canadian fighting forces. (Doyle, from Dawson City, put together a fighting platoon that was broken up and the soldiers deployed to other units to teach them how to fight! They were that good.)
Trudeau needs the money that should go to replace the antiquated vehicles, tanks, planes, subs etc. to send to other countries for windmills. (Note: there is no accountability or oversight for the billions of dollars that the Trudeaus have sent to foreign countries). The day will come when some country is going to attack Canada for its largess..but, i'll be dead by then and it's a long way off.. but, maybe not so far, Japan, Russia, China, even Norway, are already trying to get our oil and gas rich oceans.
Up 11 Down 9
Wilf Carter on Mar 15, 2022 at 6:00 pm
Canadian government has built back our arm forces to put protection in place against crazy people.
Up 27 Down 14
bonanzajoe on Mar 15, 2022 at 5:32 pm
And like always, the Royal Canadian Second Hand Air Farce will supply a couple of obsolete and outdated Kitty Hawks to be used as targets. Ms. JT doesn't like military weaponry of any kind. That's why he got rid of Stephen Harper's six guns in Afghanistan. Then bought Australia's outdated F18s. Don't get me started on the Leopard 2 Tanks that Germany sold them 30 years ago.
Up 10 Down 9
Snowball on Mar 15, 2022 at 5:28 pm
Showing off that they will not do Sh*t we don't want war.
Up 31 Down 14
Jeff Donaldson on Mar 15, 2022 at 5:01 pm
As a former member of the CAF and Combat Veteran this is just a show of pure theatre.
You have know idea how pathetic the CAF has become. More concerned with Gender-less signature blocks and political correctness! Wait for it!
Go enjoy your anti Racist Holidays and Lefty LGBTQ and whatever MONTH!
If this goes off the chain be prepared for the Worst Experience EVER!
As a former CRBND Instructor it is good to be in the mountains but your supply chain will be gone.
The police will not be able to protect you if it goes Nuclear and then my training becomes Priceless!
Up 14 Down 10
Groucho d'North on Mar 15, 2022 at 4:56 pm
Practice of any kind has value. I would much rather see the Powers That Are to perform a training excersie on responding to a downed wide-body commercial aircraft in the tundra. It is much more probable and could result in hundreds of dead, even if the plane crashes a short distance from a community with no hospital and limited resources to effect the rescue. The military you say?
It's all but forgotten now but back in 1991 a C-130 Hercules failed a landing at the Alert AFB in Nunavut and crashed just 10 kms from the base. Five military personel on board died. The logistics of effecting a large scale rescue mission do not get tested in the north but should. Read the summary report on the Alert crash: https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-lockheed-c-130-hercules-near-alert-5-killed
Up 11 Down 11
Grouch d"north on Mar 15, 2022 at 4:16 pm
So how much CO2 will that involve? Asking for a friend with a diesel.
Up 48 Down 7
Tracy Dart on Mar 15, 2022 at 3:36 pm
I am glad that North America is practicing to protect the citizens here.
Up 80 Down 14
Dabe on Mar 15, 2022 at 3:03 pm
Oh great, the same 4 decade old CF-18s which Canada has politely been informed not to deploy to Europe because they can simply not hold up against todays front line Russian fighter jets. However they are supposedly the great hope to defend this part of North America? We need to get serious about updating the military and now, we are decades behind and our meagre military equipment is rusted out and obsolete.
Up 75 Down 44
Mike on Mar 15, 2022 at 2:09 pm
The only threat to North America is the Canadian Liberal Government and their American twins the Democrats and their spineless president.