NORAD Gears Up to Track Santa Claus

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2011 – For the 56th year running, the North American Aerospace Defense Command will add the job of tracking the global flight of Santa on Christmas Eve to its mission of North American aerospace warning and control.

"NORAD stands the watch protecting the skies of North America 365 days a year, but on Christmas Eve the children of the world look to NORAD and our trusted partners to make sure that Santa is able to complete his mission safely," said Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. Jacoby commands NORAD, as well as U.S. Northern Command, both based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

The NORAD Tracks Santa mission “is a duty to the children of the world,” he added, “and a privilege we've enjoyed for 56 consecutive years.”

From a NORAD video of the 2010 Santa flight, a military specialist looks up from a bank of computer screens:

“Sir,” he says, turning to look at the camera, “we’ve picked up ‘Big Red’ on the radar. He’s entering from the northeast.

“Recommend fighter escort as he transitions over North America,” the specialist adds, as the video shows an F-16 moving down the runway.

This year, the NORAD Tracks Santa website went live Dec. 1 and features a Countdown Calendar, a Kid’s Countdown Village with holiday games and activities that change daily, and video messages from students and troops from around the world.

The website is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese.

For the first time, using free apps in the Apple iTunes Store and in the Android market, parents and children can use their smart phones to count down the days until Santa and his reindeer take off from the North Pole to deliver presents to kids everywhere.

Facebook, Google+, YouTube and Twitter also offer tracking opportunities. Santa followers can type “@noradsanta” into each search engine to get started.

And that’s not the only technology that goes into the Santa tracking mission. To track the big man in red, NORAD uses radar, satellites, Santa cams and fighter jets.

A NORAD radar system called the North Warning System consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. On Dec. 24, NORAD monitors the radar systems continuously for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.

The moment radar indicates a lift-off, satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earth’s surface are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature that allows the satellites to detect Santa’s sleigh.

NORAD starting using the Santa cam network in 1998. Santa cams, according to NORAD, are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras prepositioned at many locations around the world. They use the cameras once a year to capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer.

In the air, Canadian NORAD pilots flying the CF-18 fighter will intercept and welcome Santa to North America.

In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in F-15s, F-16s or F-22 Raptors will fly alongside Santa’s airborne sleigh pulled by his famous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.

Once data is collected on Dec. 24, it is pushed into Google Maps and Google Earth so families all over the world can follow Santa.

Thanks to these systems and technologies, starting at midnight Mountain Standard Time on Dec. 24, visitors to the NORAD Santa website can watch Santa’s progress around the globe.

It all started in 1955 when a Sears media advertisement directed kids to call Santa Claus but printed a telephone number that rang through to the crew commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center.

The colonel on duty told his staff to give all children who called in a "current location" for Santa Claus. The tradition continued when NORAD replaced CONAD in 1958.

“The [NORAD Tracks Santa] effort,” Jacoby said, “could not be carried out without the superb assistance of numerous government and nongovernment contributors.”

Sponsors of this year’s program include Acuity Scheduling, Big Fish Worldwide, Carousel Industries, the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Council, General Electric, the National Tree Lighting Ceremony, RadiantBlue Technologies Inc., thunderbaby studios, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Band, Visionbox, and the West Point Band.

Returning sponsors include the Air Force Academy Band, Analytical Graphics Inc., Air Canada, Avaya, Booz Allen Hamilton, Colorado Springs School District 11, the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, the Federal Aviation Administration, First Choice Awards & Gifts, Globelink Foreign Language Center, Google, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, Meshbox, the Naden Band of the Maritime Forces Pacific, Naturally Santa’s Inc., the Newseum, OnStar, PCI Broadband, the Space Foundation, tw telecom, Verizon and UGroup Media.

“It is the generosity of these contributors, the hard work of the more than 1,200 volunteers who man the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center, and vigilance of the Canadian and U.S. forces who work at NORAD that guarantees the program's success each and every year,” Jacoby said.

Operation Toy Drop Proves ‘Santa is a Paratrooper’

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 – Pouring rain didn’t dampen the holiday spirit as thousands of paratroopers descended over Fort Bragg, N.C., this weekend, kicking off the world’s largest combined airborne operation while ensuring Santa doesn’t overlook a single needy child.

The Army’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command launched the Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop on Dec. 11.

The first 1,300 active-duty, Army Reserve and Army National Guard soldiers jumped from over Fort Bragg’s soggy Sicily Drop Zone before heavy clouds moved in, scrubbing the mission for the day. All 4,000 participating paratroopers will get their opportunity to jump – and to earn foreign jump wings – as the operation continues this week.

The toy drop, now in its 13th year, provides valuable joint and combined training, while enabling the military to give back to the local community, said Army Maj. Gen. David M. Blackledge, commander of U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command and host of the event.

The operation involves soldiers from the 18th Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations Command. Flying them more than a dozen active- and reserve-component C-130 and C-17 aircraft and crews from Pope Air Force Base, N.C.’s 43rd and 440th Airlift Wings, the 437th Airlift Wing from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., the 815th Airlift Squadron from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., the 145th Air Wing from Charlotte, N.C., and the 118th Airlift Wing from Nashville, Tenn.

In addition, 26 jumpmasters are participating from nine nations: Botswana, Canada, Chile, Germany, Estonia, Thailand, Poland, Latvia, Ireland. Israel had planned to send jumpmasters, too, but had to cancel due to big fires in northern Israel.

The jumpmasters issue airborne commands in their native language, with a U.S. safety official providing the English translation that sends the paratroopers out the aircraft door, Blackledge explained. Once on the ground, the paratroopers get awarded the allied country’s jump wings.

“This gives everybody the opportunity, not just to get the proficiency training they need as paratroopers and air crews, but also interoperability training with our allies,” he said. “It provides all of us the opportunity to see how our allies conduct the same kind of operations that we do, and learn from each other.”

Meanwhile the complexity of the mission provides valuable preparation for real-world missions.

“There’s a tremendous amount of coordination to get all these different units, all these different planes and all these different paratroopers coming together at the same time to execute an operation,” Blackledge said. “That’s what we do in real-world situations, so this gives us the opportunity to train just as we operate.”

But the biggest bonus of the mission, he said, is the chance to brighten the holidays for needy children who might otherwise not receive a Christmas toy.

“That’s what brings this all together and makes this happen: bringing paratroopers, airmen and our allies together over the holiday period for a great event that supports a great cause,” he said.

Then-Staff Sgt. Randy Oler, a Special Forces soldier and Ranger assigned to U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, spearheaded the first Operation Toy Drop in 1998. It grew each year until 2004, when Oler died of a heart attack at age 43 while performing jumpmaster duties aboard a C-130 aircraft.

Oler’s spirit lives on through what’s now known as the Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop. This year, it collected more than 6,000 toys, the most ever, to be distributed within the community.

Since its inception, the annual toy drop has collected and distributed more than 40,000 toys in North Carolina and Tennessee, Oler’s home state. Participating paratroopers donate most of the toys.

Every airborne unit at Fort Bragg gets allocated slots for the jump, but not enough for every soldier to participate, Blackledge explained. So to vie for one of several hundred parachutes distributed through a raffle, each paratrooper donates a new, unwrapped toy.

At 6 a.m. on Dec. 10, the day of the raffle, Blackledge was amazed to see 1,600 soldiers lined up in 21-degree temperatures, all holding toys with hopes they’d get to participate.

The outpouring was amazing, he said: bikes, dolls, electronic games, even highly coveted X-Box units. One unit arrived with a whole truckload of toys, far surpassing its number of paratroopers.

“American soldiers are some of the most compassionate people in the world, and it sure shows in the toys that are coming in,” Blackledge said. “It’s really neat to be here and see the generosity and outpouring of love.”

Army Pfc. Efren Cassiana, assigned to the 319th Field Artillery Regiment’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, said he was “pretty amazed” that he was among the soldiers who won the right to jump through the raffle.

The Operation Toy Drop jump was Cassiana’s first since graduating from Airborne School on Nov. 5. He admitted he “had nerves” as his aircraft approached the drop zone, knowing that with the weather conditions, the jump would be challenging. “But once those doors opened, I felt pretty good waiting for that green light,” he said.

Cassiana said he also felt great earning Chilean jump wings, and knowing that the Lego block set he’d donated would make a difference for a young child.

“Some of them don’t get a lot of stuff, so what we are doing is going to mean a lot,” he said. “It’s a great feeling, knowing that what we are doing is helping someone out.”

Army Spc. Christopher Hubbard, another 82nd Airborne soldier, called the opportunity to earn foreign jump wings a big motivator in signing up for the raffle that earned him a jump slot on the initial manifest.

Proudly bearing his new Polish jump wings, he said Operation Toy Drop “was definitely a rewarding experience, not just for me, but for all the soldiers out here.”

Hubbard said he’s also happy knowing the Transformer toy he donated will make a difference in a little boy’s holiday.

“This is a way to give back and do a good thing for the community, especially for kids that might go otherwise not get anything for Christmas,” he said. “I think all these gifts, even if they’re just little things, will make these kids smile that much more.”

Blackledge called Operation Toy Drop a great way to give back to the community that has stood behind its local units as they conduct some of the highest operational tempos in the military. “This is our way to show thanks to the community by giving back to the kids,” he said. “It’s a neat way of saying we are proud to be members of this community.”

This year, for the first time, some of the young recipients got a chance to watch the airborne operations and receive their toys from volunteers dressed up as Santa and his elves.

“Even though it was cold and rainy, the kids were having a blast watching the paratroopers come down and then talking to them,” Blackledge said. “The children at Fort Bragg know Santa Claus is a paratrooper.”

NORAD Set to Track Santa; Commander Thanks Troops, Families

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Dec. 21, 2007 - Members of North American Aerospace Defense Command are gearing up to track Santa Claus' travels on Christmas Eve, providing detailed information about his whereabouts on the command's Web site and through a toll-free telephone line. Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, delivered a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the Santa-tracking mission.

He reported a "consistent phenomenon" the command has tracked for decades. "Sometime around the 24th of December, this individual begins to take flight, and he makes a very rapid trip around the globe," he said.

When Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor, first took notice of this flight in the 1950s, "there was a great concern, because we didn't know if this was a threat to our country and to free nations around the world," Renuart said. "What we found is, this gentleman brings good everywhere he goes."

NORAD's system to track this person has evolved over the years, refined through the use of radar systems, satellite sensors and communications and interactive information technology, he said. "So we can precisely, at any time along his flight, identify his location, ensure he has the proper protection and ... he can complete his mission on time."

The NORAD elves are looking forward to tracking Santa again this year, Renuart said. From 2 a.m. Mountain Time Dec. 24 through 2 a.m. Mountain Time Christmas Day, they'll track his progress, posting details on the command's Web site at www.noradsanta.org.

"At any time in this process, they can find out where Santa is and when he should be into their area," Renuart said.

In addition, children can call the NORAD hotline at 877-HI-NORAD toll-free to check up on Santa. Translators we be on hand to report on his travels in six different languages, Renuart said. They'll also remind children that Santa can't come to their houses if they're awake, he said.

"It's an amazing planning process Santa goes through to arrive in each part of the world after the children have gone to sleep to ensure that he can review whether they have been good or bad, naughty or nice, and reward them appropriately," Renuart said. "So it's a mission we take very seriously, and we are looking forward to it."

The Santa-tracking mission dates back to 1955, after an ad in a local newspaper printed an incorrect number for Santa Claus that sent callers to Continental Air Defense Command's operations center. Its commander, Col. Harry Shoup, started the tradition of tracking Santa, a mission NORAD assumed in 1958.

Last year, the command's Santa-tracking Web site received more than 941 million page views from 210 countries and territories, NORAD officials reported. In addition, 756 volunteers answered more than 65,000 calls to the toll-free phone line.

While enjoying the levity of the mission, Renuart turned serious to extend thoughts and prayers to young men and women deployed in harm's way around the world and to their families who will spend the holidays without their loved ones.

"This is a difficult time in our country's history as we continue to struggle against this rash of violent extremism around the world," he said. "We've got great members of our military who have given selflessly of themselves. But importantly, their families have given selflessly as well, and our thoughts and prayers go out to them."

"We wish them all the best in this holiday season," he said. "We want them to be safe, and we want them to return home safely just as soon as this mission allows."

Meanwhile, Renuart assured that NORAD and NORTHCOM will continue carrying out their mission to ensure troops their families are protected and that, if disaster strikes in their communities, it's ready to respond.

"We take this job very seriously, and we are committed to make sure that when they arrive home safely, they come back to a safe home, as well," he said.

Alaska Guard Conducts Operation Santa Claus

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Nov. 26, 2007 - The Alaska National Guard is bringing Christmas a month early to children in remote Alaskan villages, some whom might otherwise not get to see a Santa Claus or receive a holiday gift. The Guardsmen from the 144th Airlift Squadron are slated to fly a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Kulis Air National Guard Base to Kotlik, Alaska, tomorrow for the third and last major Operation Santa Claus flight of the season, said Kalei Brooks, a spokeswoman for Alaska's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The airmen will carry Santa and Mrs. Claus and other community and business volunteers and join them in distributing toys, clothing, books, school supplies and holiday spirit to local residents. They'll also help serve up a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans, as well as ice cream sundaes donated by the Tastee-Freez company.

The Alaska National Guard has conducted Operation Santa Claus since 1956 to bring holiday cheer to children and families in remote villages across the state.

That year, spring floods devastated the fishing season, and a drought wiped out much of the wildlife hunters and trappers would normally have gathered, Brooks said. Nuns at a mission in St. Mary's, Alaska, worried that as they used all the money they had to ship in food for their orphanage, nothing would be left to buy gifts for the children.

A letter from one of the nuns found its way to the Alaska Air National Guard's 144th Airlift Squadron in Anchorage and gave birth to Operation Santa Claus. Since then, the effort has branched out to reach different remote villages every year. Last year, the Guard observed the program's 50th anniversary by returning to St. Mary's, among other villages.

The Alaska Guard and its elves kicked off this season's Operation Santa Claus Nov. 3 by flying two C-130s loaded with volunteer elves and goodies to Wainwright. The town, about 70 miles southwest of Barrow, has fewer than 600 residents. They flew another Operation Santa Claus flight Nov. 13 to Togiak, a village of just over 800 people at the head of Togiak Bay.

While the Alaska Air National Guard flies C-130 missions, the Army National Guard participates in Operation Santa Claus, too, delivering goodies to local communities via UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, said Air Force Capt. Guy Hayes, the Alaska Guard's chief of public affairs.

To ensure there's a big supply of gifts to deliver, the Operation Santa Claus elves collect donations year-round. "A lot of hard work and a lot of volunteers go into this project," she said. "It's a year-round effort."

Volunteers go through lost-and-found boxes after the school year ends and get items professionally cleaned. They scour their local communities for books to donate, and collect donations from local organizations and businesses to distribute, she said.

Even gifts as simple as fresh fruit and bottled water are received in the villages with open arms. "Things like that are very expensive in remote Alaskan villages," she said. "So getting them is a treat."

Brooks, who plans to take part in tomorrow's flight for her fourth consecutive year supporting Operation Santa Claus, said it's gratifying to bring the holiday spirit to villagers who might otherwise go without a celebration.

"It's a way of showing that we as an organization – the Alaska National Guard – really do care about the community as a whole," she said. "We all want to get out there and integrate with the community and help our fellow Alaskans."