Under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Lt. Col. Ian Hurbanek, left, and Lt. Col. Brian Radford, right, beings pre-flight checks on a KC-135 during air-defense Operation NOBLE DEFENDER, Oct. 27, 2022.  Operation NOBLE DEFENDER is a long-planned NORAD exercise that validates the command’s capability to defend Canada and the United States from every avenue of approach.  The Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR) led this iteration of OND and coordinated and conducted combined operations, while concurrently launching aircraft from different locations across the northeast coast of the United States. F-15 and KC-135 aircraft from CONR and CF-18 aircraft from the Canadian NORAD Region participated in the operation. NORAD is a bi-national Canadian and U.S. command that employs a network of aerial, ground-based, and space-based sensors, air-to-air refueling 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 airspace.