Officials with the North American Aerospace Defense Command say exercise flights are will be conducted in the U. S and Canada.

Flights to practice intercept and identification procedures are scheduled to take place Thursday off the coast of Seattle and British Columbia's Vancouver Island . Flights for the same exercises also scheduled to take place between Anchorage, Alaska, and the Kobuk Valley in Alaska, and between Aberdeen, S.D., and Minneapolis.

Officials say NORAD has conducted exercise flights in the U.S. and Canada since launching Operation Noble Eagle, the command's response to 9/11.

NORAD is a U.S.-Canadian command responsible for defending the skies over both countries. It also monitors sea traffic approaching their shores. Its headquarters are at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.