] Operation Amalgam Virgo is a

CINCNORAD The commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a four-star general or admiral in the United States Armed Forces who serves as the head of all United States and Canadian joint aerospace military operational forces, stationed ...

joint task counter-terrorist and field training exercise (FTX) carried out in Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida on early June 2001.

NORAD 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 ...

sponsored the multi-agency planning exercise involving the hypothetical scenario of a

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

launched by a terrorist group. Key military players involved in the exercise also included personnel from the 1st Air Force battalion, the U.S. National Guard, the U.S. Reserve forces, and the U.S. Navy. Several naval ships including the USS ''Yorktown'' and the Navy Aegis cruiser were dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico as part of the multi-service anti-cruise missile operation. Military land personnel from the 1st Air Force also engaged in gathering radar information on low-level targets by using the Joint-Based Expeditionary Connectivity Center (JBECC), a mobile shelter capable of being deployed to high-risk regions while providing early warning signals on cruise missile attacks.

References

External links

* http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/amalgam-virgo.htm – Overview , Operation Amalgam Virgo * http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/linkscopy/AmalgumVirgo.pdf – SEADS concept proposal for Amalgam Virgo, June 2001 , PDF Government databases in the United States 21st-century military history of the United States North American Aerospace Defense Command Counterterrorism 2001 in Florida {{US-military-stub