Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
Santa's journey this year comes after weeks of mysterious sightings of alleged drones in New Jersey.
SantaClaus has no need to worry about recent mystery drone sightings over New Jersey, a US Air Force general said Tuesday, as an annual tradition of "tracking" Saint Nick swung into action.
General Gregory Guillot's reassurances came as the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command reported thatSantaand his reindeer were making stops across Asia, including Japan and North Korea.
Santa's journey this year comes after weeks of mysterious sightings of alleged drones in New Jersey, sparking worldwide curiosity even as many of the reported sightings were debunked.
"Of course, we are concerned about drones and anything else in the air," NORAD commander Guillot told Fox News. "But I don't foresee any difficulty at all with drones forSantathis year."
NORAD'sSantatracker dates back to 1955 when a Colorado newspaper advertisement printed a phone number to connect children withSanta-- but mistakenly directed them to the hotline for the joint military nerve centre.
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To avoid disappointing the little ones, NORAD's director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, ordered his staff to "check" the radar to see whereSantamight be and update the children calling in on his location.
When not spreading holiday cheer, NORAD conducts aerospace and maritime control and warning operations -- including monitoring for missile launches from North Korea, something perhaps onSanta's mind as he guided his reindeer-hauled sleigh over Pyongyang.
The tracker, which has been modernized and moved online to noradsanta.org, includes a 3D map showingSanta's movements in real-time, as well as a ticker -- constantly shooting upward -- showing approximately how many presents have been delivered.
"North American Aerospace Defense Command always does a fantastic job helping us keep tabs onSanta's navigational heading and bearing in the skies above," astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to ever walk on the Moon, said on social media.
Last year, US President Joe Biden joined in the fun at NORAD's call centre, taking calls from children.
As of Tuesday morning, some 1.2 billion presents had been delivered, according to NORAD.
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