NORAD also tracks Santa using U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16, F-22 and Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter jets. On Christmas Eve, fighter pilots rendezvous with Santa off the coast of Newfoundland to welcome him to North America. They escort him safely through North American airspace until he returns to the North Pole.
Why is no one hollering about this obvious waste of taxpayer dollars? It’s not like they can keep up with him, anyway; Santa is superluminal!
It is. I’m sure it’s changed since it’s gone all Google/AI. I volunteered before all that. It was basically a PowerPoint presentation that was projected onto screens in a large conference room.
It’s a bit sweet seeing people in military uniforms talking to kids about Santa and where he is. Some of the people would chat with the kids, asking them what they wanted for Christmas.
It’s especially fun when other government agencies get in on it. I believe during one of Obama’s years, he held a press conference and he was asked about something to do with drones and how Santa would be protected or something like that. And he talked about how F-18s would rendezvous with Santa at the Canada-US border and escort him safely.
I’m too lazy to look it up but it got a lot of chuckles. Even the FAA got involved and issued press releases about how Santa was cleared to use the military air corridors to ensure speedy delivery.
From defense.gov:
Why is no one hollering about this obvious waste of taxpayer dollars? It’s not like they can keep up with him, anyway; Santa is superluminal!
Fwiw, the people who track Santa volunteer. Not only that, there are corporate sponsors that help fund the fuel and other costs.
Source: I did NORAD duty one year.
Jokes aside, that sounds like tons of fun.
It is. I’m sure it’s changed since it’s gone all Google/AI. I volunteered before all that. It was basically a PowerPoint presentation that was projected onto screens in a large conference room.
It’s a bit sweet seeing people in military uniforms talking to kids about Santa and where he is. Some of the people would chat with the kids, asking them what they wanted for Christmas.
It’s especially fun when other government agencies get in on it. I believe during one of Obama’s years, he held a press conference and he was asked about something to do with drones and how Santa would be protected or something like that. And he talked about how F-18s would rendezvous with Santa at the Canada-US border and escort him safely.
I’m too lazy to look it up but it got a lot of chuckles. Even the FAA got involved and issued press releases about how Santa was cleared to use the military air corridors to ensure speedy delivery.
The pilots need the training hours anyway.
Bingo. They’re gonna be doing the flights anyway, might as well get some public goodwill out of it.
While Santa is superluminal, the military industrial complex is subliminal.