The United 
States and Russia have completed their first-ever Vigilant Eagle cooperative air defense exercise, NORAD officials announced Wednesday. Vigilant Eagle took place over the course of three days, with US and Russian military and civil air-traffic-control personnel practicing how they would cooperatively deal with a hijacked airliner flying over the Pacific near Alaska and the Russian Far East. In one drill, Air Force F-22s scrambled to intercept a Gulfstream 4 airplane that was acting as the mock-hijacked airliner. The F-22s then handed over control of the Gulfstream to Russian Su-27s as the Gulfstream neared Russian airspace. In the second drill, the Su-27s escorted the Gulfstream until it neared Alaska and then they relinquished control to the F-22s. Russian Air Force Col. Alexander Vasilyev said terrorism affects both nations “so it is very important that we work together.” (Anchorage report by Capt. Sharbe Clark)
The Air Force's new Aircraft Readiness Unit will maintain and provide Collaborative Combat Aircraft for operations, but won’t serve as a “schoolhouse” teaching fighter pilots how to manage these escort drones.