Two F-15 pilots with the Florida Air National Guard’s 125th Fighter Wing flying an Operation Noble Eagle intercept mission in late December coincidently completed the operation’s 55,000th sortie, the Continental US NORAD Region reported Jan. 14. Additionally, since the operation began on Sept. 11, 2001, ONE assigned fighter aircraft have responded to more than 2,350 possible air threats. Maj. Gen. Garry Dean, CONR commander, noted, “We have achieved an astounding 55,000 accident-free” sorties and have “ensured the continued sovereignty of our skies.” Although ONE no longer maintains fighters in the air 24/7, fighter crews, predominantly Air Guard, stand alert around the country. Col. John Bartholf, leader of the Eastern Air Defense Sector, said, “It continues to be a no-fail mission that protects our most precious resource—the citizens of this great nation.”
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…