Looks like sovereignty is a thing of the past .. beyond belief.
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Two days of ‘hot’ skies overhead?
By Michael Daniels
Oct. 17, 2009
http://www.bethelcitizen.com/story.php?storyid=6746
*snip*
A three-day homeland defense exercise, “Falcon Dart” was announced last week by the Massachusetts Air National Guard, and will include F-15 “Eagle” aircraft from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, intercepting CAP aircraft “in proximity to the Condor Military Operating Area in Maine.”
Other Falcon Dart activities are planned off the eastern seacoast and elsewhere in New England.
In a release announcing the exercise, the ANG wrote: “Communities in New England may experience an increase in fighter jet and Army/DOD helicopter activity as they support this exercise.”
And residents underneath the activity are urged not to be alarmed if what they see appears unusual.
“We didn’t want to startle people if they see things that are not common for that area,” Capt. Matt Mutti, public affairs officer for the 104th Fighter Wing, based at Barnes, told The Citizen
In the Bethel area, residents are no strangers to such activity — since the Condor MOA lies right over our heads (chart).
And also overlying much of the area is low-level training route (VR840), which channels much of the military air traffic into Condor.
Military aircraft operating in Condor (under current rules, which the ANG hopes to change) must remain at an altitude of 7,000 feet (above mean sea level) or more.
But on VR840 they can be as low as 100 feet above the ground.
And while air traffic in Condor is spread out over more than 4,000 square miles, traffic on VR840 is concentrated in a 6.9-mile wide corridor.
Presumably that means that much of the Falcon Dart action “in the proximity of” Condor may be passing over the Bethel area.
Last week’s announcement provided few details regarding the exercises (and efforts by The Citizen to obtain more detail were unsuccessful).
On Wednesday, however, a follow-up release was issued.
It noted that day-one (Wednesday) activities were being conducted primarily along the eastern seacoast, and it offered the following description of activities planned for the following two days:
“On days two and three of the exercise, Air Force C-21s (military version of the Lear Jet 35A business jet) and Civil Air Patrol fixed-wing aircraft will simulate tracks of interest in the Ashland, N.H., area. F-15s from Barnes ANGB, along with fixed and rotary-wing aircraft from U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be launched to intercept the TOIs.”
Ashland N.H, is in the middle of the state, southwest of Bethel. It lies under the Yankee One MOA, but neither of the ANG releases mentions Yankee. As noted above, however, the first release does specifically refer to Condor.
VR840 status online
Residents who wish to learn if the military aircraft plan to use any “special use airspace” (e.g., Condor or VR840) in a given period of time can find such information on the Federal Aviation Administration website.
In the case of VR840, go to http://sua.faa.gov/sua/Welcome.do.
Click the light-blue “SUA List” tab.
Then go to the dropdown under “Type” and click “VR.”
If the route is scheduled for use, it will be listed, along with the beginning and end times.
(Note: the listed times are Zulu, or Greenwich Mean Time, which is four hours later than Eastern Standard Time, but five hours later than Daylight Savings Time. For example, 21:00 Zulu would currently be 16:00 local time, or 4 p.m.)
Star show
The Citizen’s initial communications with Capt. Mutti did turn up a bit of information that will be of interest to at least a segment of our readership.
Capt. Mutti said plans call for Trace Gallagher of FOX News to ride shotgun in one of the Falcon Dart F15s.
SWAT/Homeland Security exercises:
http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=d_K0f6QP33ew93MSiiJnXMYHhauOM
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October 16, 2009
US Homeland Security center in W.Va. to expand
http://wvgazette.com/ap/ApTopStories/200910160620
U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd says the Department of Homeland Security has awarded a contract to begin planning for the expansion of a Harpers Ferry training center.
The $2.75 million contract calls for Dunbar-based BrooAlexa Design Joint Venture to begin the initial planning and development for new dormitories at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection training facility.
Byrd says expanding the dormitories will allow the center to expand its course load and allow for increased joint-agency exercises.
The center trains and certifies federal officials who train border patrol officers.
The center is located on 104 acres near Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
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Awful lot of drills and training happening.