U.S. Military Sentinel Radars and Avenger missile launchers are in North Bay at 22 Wing as part of a NORAD training exercise.
More than 60 members of the South Carolina National Guard 263rd Army Air and Missile Defence Command are here for exercise Vigilant Shield. The training will integrate NORAD air defence artillery assets into the NORAD systems already present at 22 WING.
Colonel Donnie Wilson, with the 263rd, is the air missile defence task force commander for the exercise. Wilson says he hopes to never have to do it for real, but if they’re not prepared to, then they can’t.
Colonel Henrik N. Smith says this is a first for North Bay, as the military equipment has never been brought to Canada before. Smith says for the next three days, fighter aircraft’s will be flying scenarios in North Bay from eight a.m. until four p.m.
