21 Aerospace Control & Warning Squadron is a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

unit based at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay. It is the operational air defence unit for the

Canadian NORAD Region North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

. With its complement of 185 personnel, ''21 Aerospace Control & Warning Squadron'' maintains air

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

over Canadian airspace, monitors Canada's

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

assets and controls assigned military aircraft, such as CF-18 interceptors. It coordinates with outside agencies to identify air traffic (over 200,000 flights a year), provides control of special air sovereignty incidents, assist

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

with cases of suspected

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

of illegal drugs via air into North America and supports international defense and

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

commitments.

History

The Squadron was activated at the

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

station at St. Margarets, New Brunswick, Canada, in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

with the signing of the Pinetree Agreement. SAGE console

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

it became part of the

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

system, the North American Air Defence Command's (NORAD's) computerized defence network, and became North Bay's Alternate Command Post and Automated Back-up Interceptor Control Unit, taking over in the event that North Bay—center for (then) the air defence of north, east-central and Atlantic Canada—was destroyed or otherwise put out of action. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

the unit was disbanded and reformed in

CFB North Bay Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an Canadian Forces base, air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario, North Bay, Ontario about north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, ...

where it remains today.

References

External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons

History

See also

References

External links