The Russian Air Force and NORAD conducted Vigilant Eagle 2011 exercises in the Russian Far East from August 8 to 11, in an effort to simulate a military operation for the release of a hijacked airliner.   

According to Igor Muginov, the Press secretary of the Eastern Military District Commander, the drill was the second cooperative exercise held within the framework of the recent NORAD-Russian agreement.

During the exercises, the U.S. and Russian fighters practiced intercepting and shadowing an airliner over their territories and then handing off control of the airliner to the other side as the airliner approached the other country’s airspace. Along with the fighters, airborne warning and control aircraft and tankers from both sides participated, as did U.S., Canadian, and Russian personnel in military air operations centers at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska and Khabarovsk, Russia.

According to Igor Muginov, “the exercises strengthened working relationships and promoted joint detection, tracking, identification, interception, and escorting of aircraft that trespass national airspace.”