NORAD Santa tracking systems to eventually track real things
Command critical to national survival requests patience
NORAD, long focused on Father Christmas, now turns toward national survival
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, COLORADO—It was a tense week for North American Aerospace Defense Command, starting with an American fighter jet shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon after it floated across wide swathes of North America, and ending with a flurry of additional engagements against mysterious objects from northern Canada to Lake Huron. In the wake, NORAD commander, General Glen D. Vanherck, admitted the nation’s aerospace warning systems are in need of extensive upgrades.
“Obviously, we kinda dropped the ball on this,” Vanherck said during a press conference. “But we’re taking steps to ensure this kind of lapse in performance never happens again. That begins with improving our detection and tracking systems. For decades, NORAD has been optimized for the annual detection, tracking, and safe airspace deconfliction of an imaginary elf. Starting today, we will seriously consider putting resources int…
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