NORAD aircraft fly in formation with a U.S. Air Force KC-135 from the Alabama Air National Guard's 117th Air Refueling Wing over the Gulf of Mexico in support of North American Aerospace Defense Command's Operation Noble Defender March 24, 2023. Continental U.S. NORAD Region coordinated the launch of the U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagles from the Louisiana Air National Guard's 159th Fighter Wing and an E-3 Airborne Warning and Controls System aircraft to conduct intercept operations with a B-52 Stratofortress bomber as it entered the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone off the coast of New Orleans. NORAD units exercised maneuvers designed to defend the southern approach to the United States from simulated cruise missile threats in the particular OND. (U.S. Air National Guard Photos by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Faddis.)