Skip to content

NORAD reports airspace violation, warning triggered by special guest

Approximately 10 radar hits have confirmed what many suspected for Christmas Eve; that Santa Claus is indeed in the air and making his annual visit to good boys and girls across Canada.

Approximately 10 radar hits have confirmed what many suspected for Christmas Eve; that Santa Claus is indeed in the air and making his annual visit to good boys and girls across Canada.

The Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has issued a statement this evening regarding their systems tracking an unidentified intruder flying into Canadian airspace and originating out of the North Pole.

A media advisory went out by the Royal Canadian Air Force, saying that two CF-18 aerial escort pilots have been scrambled to welcome what appears to be the jolly old man himself into Canada's East Coast.

Radar and satellite tracking stations at The Canadian Air Defense Sector, Operations Centre at 22 Wing in North Bay, Ont., have also picked up the heat signature of a flying object coming towards Canada just a few hours after sunset on Christmas Eve.

With the help from state-of-the-art radar scans and high-tech satellite imagery, the military is able to establish the unknown flying object is a red sleigh, with what looks to be 8 tiny reindeer pulling it.

While they are not able to get a clear facial recognition of its lone occupant due to the sleigh travelling beyond the speed of light, officials have confirmed that he is wearing a red suit and donning a full white beard, which leads them to believe it is Santa Claus.

Military sources are also able to establish the identify Santa Claus by special voice recognition technology as he is heard to be heartily chuckling “HO HO HO!” and yelling “MERRRY Christmas!”

“If that's not Santa Claus, well then, I don't know who is,” says Lieutenant-Colonel Darcy Molstead of 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, 3 Wing, Bagotville, Quebec.

“Confirmed, it is Santa Claus” replies Captain Sebastien Gorelov, also from 3 Wing, who adds that “kids who reside in Eastern Canada should get to sleep A.S.A.P.”

For more than 50 years, NORAD has been tracking the annual visitor, a tradition that began in 1955, after a Colorado Springs Sears Roebuck and Co. misprinted the telephone number and, instead of children calling Santa, they were put in touch with the commander in chief's operation hotline.

At the time, Colonel Henry Shoup had a staff member check the radar for indications of Santa making his way South from the North Pole, along with updates on his location and a tradition was born.

From the instance Santa lifts off, 47 radar installations across the Canada's North have been tracking the Jolly elf himself.

Synchronous orbit satellites above the earth with infrared sensors are also able to track Rudolph's nose.

Jet fighters stationed at numerous locations in Canada are also readied to escort Santa's flying magic reindeer; Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolf, on their evening's journey.

Since 1958, NORAD men and women, along with family and friends, have volunteered their time selflessly to personally help out with the annual tracking of Santa's visit.

In keeping with the times, they now track Santa using the internet, with millions of people wanting to know of Santa's whereabouts, visiting their NORAD Track Santa website.

Providing surveillance, identification, warning and control of Canada's aerospace through the use of a National Sensor Network and airborne assets, the NORAD team are prepared and expecting a timely visit from Santa Claus while still maintaining their ability to any and all air threats to the defence of Canada and North America.

Teams are often rotated and this year, the honour of flying with Santa goes to “Charlie” Flight of 21 Aerospace Control & Warning Squadron.

Captain Ali M. Ullah, Senior Director at the Canadian Air Defence Sector, 22 Wing North Bay, says that it is well known that Santa is happy to be met by his military escorts, whom he often waves to and exchanges greetings with as he speeds across Canadian Airspace.

Captain Ullah says that Santa, who travels in his own time-space continuum, likes to slow down enough to meet the supersonic jets that escort him and rock their wings to greet him on his merry way as he delivers presents to children on Christmas Eve across Canada and North America.

As to whether or not NORAD is concerned that other invaders or imitators might attempt to enter Canadian airspace on Christmas Eve, Captain Ullah confirms that, historically, when they see the 10 data points or tiny heat signatures, it has always been Santa and his reindeer, however, the military never assumes and have always scrambled intercept aircraft to confirm the visitor is Santa and his sleigh.

“We usually have a good idea that it's him,” says Captain Ullah, while making a reference to NORADS' highly classified Santa intelligence.

Tracking of Santa Claus is currently occurring across the internet, with hundreds of thousands of people interacting through Facebook, Twitter, radio stations, telephone hotlines, Santa Cams and the like, all keeping an eye on St. Nick as he performs his annual Christmas duties.

All parents and children alike can receive updates on Santa's journey by visiting http://www.noradsanta.org or by calling the hotline 1-877-446-6723 or by emailing  [email protected] to get the latest updates on Santa's progress on delivering toys to all the good girls and boys.