US Air Force F-16s Return to NORAD Alert at Alaska's Eareckson Air Station for First Time in Decades

US Air Force F-16s resumed NORAD air-defence alert operations at Eareckson Air Station on Alaska’s Shemya Island during October, the first such alert posture there in decades. Aircraft deployed from October 18 to 26 with live air-to-air missiles and launched on October 25 for a homeland-defence mission. The activity combined fighters operating from the remote Aleutian location with additional US and Canadian aircraft under the Noble Defender and Noble Eagle frameworks. The deployment assessed dispersed readiness and defence of North America’s Pacific approaches, rather than announcing a permanent fighter unit or a new standing base assignment.