The Continental NORAD Region (CONR) is a component of the North American Aerospace Defense Command

North American Aerospace Defense Command

North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...

 (NORAD) that provides airspace surveillance

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

 and control and directs air sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

 activities for the continental United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (CONUS).

Since September 11, 2001, CONR has been the lead agency for Operation Noble Eagle

Operation Noble Eagle

Operation Noble Eagle is the name given to military operations related to homelandsecurity and support to federal, state, and local agencies...

, an ongoing mission to protect the continental United States from further terrorist aggression from inside and outside of U.S. borders.

Operations

Continental United States Region Air Operations Center (CONR) is located at Tyndall Air Force Base

Tyndall Air Force Base

Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt Frank Benjamin Tyndall...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

,and has responsibility over two air defense sectors: the Western Air Defense Sector

Western Air Defense Sector

The Western Air Defense Sector is a United States Air Force unit and a component of the Washington Air National Guard. It is stationed at McChord Field, Washington-Overview:...

 at McChord Air Force Base, Washington state

Washington State

Washington State may refer to:* Washington , often referred to as "Washington state" to differentiate it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States* Washington State University, a land-grant college in that state- See also :...

 and the Eastern Air Defense Sector

Eastern Air Defense Sector

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is a United States Air Force unit and a component of the New York Air National Guard. It is stationed at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York.-Overview:...

 at Rome, New York

Rome, New York

Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States. It is located in north-central or "upstate" New York. The population was 44,797 at the 2010 census. It is in New York's 24th congressional district. In 1758, British forces began construction of Fort Stanwix at this strategic location, but...

.

A combined First Air Force

First Air Force

The First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida....

 command post and CONR Air Operations Center perform the NORAD air sovereignty mission for the continental United States. One of four numbered air forces assigned to Air Combat Command, First Air Force plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and ensures air sovereignty and provides for the air defense of the nation. The best of America's fighter inventory, the F-15 Eagle

F-15 Eagle

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...

 and the F-16 Fighting Falcon

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

, are CONR’s primary weapons systems.

First Air Force consists of 10 Air National Guard

Air National Guard

The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...

 fighter wings. With the transfer of responsibility for continental air defense from the active duty component of the Air Force to the Air National Guard, First Air Force became the first numbered air force to be made up primarily of citizen airmen.

CONR is one of three NORAD regions. NORAD is the bi-national Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 command that employs a network of space-based, aerial and ground-based sensors, air-to-air refuelling tankers and fighter aircraft, controlled by a sophisticated command and control network to deter, detect and defend against aerial threats that originate outside or within North American

North American

North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...

airspace. The two other Regions consist of the Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) and the Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR).

External links

• http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/norad/ins10018.htm
• http://www.1af.acc.af.mil/