Exercise VIGILANT SHEILD Starts - RCAF CF-18s and CH-149s involved

DND Press Release

Exercise Vigilant Shield has started.

“The Canadian North American Aerospace Defense (sic) Command (NORAD) Region has begun its participation in NORAD’s annual VIGILANT SHIELD field training exercise,” the news release from the Canadian Forces noted. “The live-fly field training exercise, which will run October 17 to 21, is part of a larger series of annual NORAD VIGILANT SHIELD exercises that take place throughout the United States and Canada.”

VIGILANT SHIELD 17 will see NORAD building on previous training in North America’s northern aerospace and in the high Arctic, according to the release.

Exercise VIGILANT SHIELD 17 will see the deployment of:

– Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-18 Hornets to Inuvik, N.W.T.;

– U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-15 Eagle fighter jets to Yellowknife, N.W.T.;

– USAF E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft and KC-135 Stratotankers to 5 Wing Goose Bay, N.L.;

– an RCAF CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue (SAR) helicopter and 42 Radar Squadron to Canadian Forces Station Alert;

– an RCAF CH-149 Cormorant SAR helicopter and CC-130H Hercules SAR aircraft to the USAF’s Point Barrow Long Range Radar Site in Alaska; and

– Canadian Army personnel to provide on-site security support.