The D.C. National Guard scrambled F-16 fighters from Joint Base Andrews after a Cessna 560 Citation V violated restricted air space in Washington D.C.The F16s sonic boom caused concerns and many 911 calls until officials confirmed the noise was caused by the military jets.
File photo of a D.C. Air National Guard F-16C escorting a Cessna 182 from the air space during Amalgam Dart 20-4 live-fly training exercise at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn., Nov. 21, 2019. (Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper)
Recurring “Falcon Virgo” Exercise for Washington D.C. Trains Airspace Control and Restriction.
Operation “Falcon Virgo”, a planned air defense exercise over the U.S. national capital region, will take place on Jan. 14-15 and again on Jan. 25-26, 2021. The exercise, which is a “routine air defense exercise” according to a media release from the North American Air Defense Command, will include “exercises with a variety of scenarios, including airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responses to unknown aircraft. All NORAD exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled”
One week after deadly attack, Capitol Hill halls filled with National Guard troops instead of tourists and staffers January 13 Hundreds of National Guard troops hold inside the Capitol Visitor s Center to reinforce security at the Capitol on Jan. 13, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) As House lawmakers held a historic impeachment vote on Wednesday, they did so not with members of the general public in the viewing galleries above but instead with National Guard troops patrolling the nearby hallways of the Capitol building. The scene which came just one week after hundreds of rioters attacked the building in a bid to preserve Donald Trump’s hold on the presidency for many was a jarring militarization of the center of American democracy.