Eielson Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force installation southeast of Fairbanks, near North Pole and Moose Creek. It hosts the 354th Fighter Wing and its F-35A fighters, and it is a home of the RED FLAG-Alaska combat training exercises.
Photo: SSgt. Beaux Hebert via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · Public domain
eielson.af.mil ↗Eielson AFB, AK, USA
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Photo: Chief Petty Officer Brandon Raile via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · Public domain
NORAD F-16s fly homeland defense mission from remote Aleutian air station
Air Force F-16s launched a homeland defense mission Oct. 25 from Eareckson Air Station, according to NORAD. The station is on Shemya Island, the westernmost U.S. military outpost in the Aleutian chain. The mission grew to include aircraft from two other Alaska bases and a Canadian base.
The command did not say what, if anything, prompted the mission.
The F-16s flying from Eareckson covered the southern part of the Alaska theater. F-35s and more F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base covered the northwest, and Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18s from Cold Lake, Alberta, covered the northern approaches. Eareckson is about 1,600 miles from Eielson and 2,600 miles from Cold Lake.
Support aircraft took part too. An E-3 Sentry radar plane came from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Air Force KC-135 tankers and a Canadian CC-150 Polaris handled aerial refueling, and an HC-130 Combat King II provided search and rescue coverage.
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