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Super Bowl Preparations to Include Air Defense Exercise

MetLife Stadium
MetLife Stadium / Wikimedia Commons
January 28, 2014

The Department of Defense announced that fighter jets from the Continental United States North American Aerospace Defense Command Region (CONR) will conduct an air defense exercise Tuesday to prepare for protecting the skies around MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Super Bowl.

Exercise Amalgam Virgo 14-01, a NORAD air-defense exercise, will be conducted in the greater East Rutherford area so interagency partners can practice procedures for responding to airspace violations. The exercise is a series of training flights in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, Civil Air Patrol, the 601st Air and Space Operations Center, and the CONR’s Eastern Air Defense Sector.

"There are a lot of interagency partners involved in the air defense of this year’s Super Bowl," said Air Force Lt. Gen. William H. Etter, CONR commander. "With multiple agencies involved, coordination between all air-defense partners is crucial. This exercise allows all of the interagency partners to come together before the game to hone their air defense skills and ensure communications are working properly."

These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure CONR’s rapid response capability, officials said. CONR has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the United States since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s ongoing response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, they noted

Published under: Department of Defense