In an effort to sharpen their aerospace surveillance skills, planes from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be flying over western Nevada skies today.

The flights will take place in the late morning and early afternoon, according to a release from NORAD, and people can expect to hear and see the fighter aircraft as they practice their intercept and identification procedures.

Brian Kulpin, a spokesman for the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, said air traffic controllers have been notified, but all flights will still go up as usual.

"We are quite accustomed to this," Kulpin said. "It should not impact us. It is something we work around all the time."

Kulpin referenced the nearby Top Gun School in Fallon as a type of military training that the airport constantly works around.

However, NORAD conducts a different type of mission than what the Fallon Naval Air Station is responsible for.

According to Master Sgt. Jerry Harlan, public affairs officer for the Continental U.S. NORAD region, these types of exercises train pilots to gather information about an object from the air.

"(Intercept and identification procedures) are when two aircraft come together and visually or electronically look at an object that needs identification," Harlan said.

Harlan added that the exercises could take place anywhere between Reno and Coaldale, Nev, which is south of Hawthorne, Nev.

Specific locations and times could not be provided due to security concerns.

The command will be conducting a similar exercise over New Orleans at the same time. Similar exercises have been taking place all over the country throughout the past months.

The exercises have been ongoing since the launch of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. The operation was designed to prevent an air attack similar to those that occurred on 9/11.

According to a June 2007 article in Air Force Magazine, Noble Eagle aircraft had flown some 44,000 sorties and had been diverted from patrols or scrambled from strip alert more than 2,200 times in response to threatening activities.

The article also cited a 2007 report by the Congressional Research Service claiming that the operation has cost more than $27 billion but it has "helped prevent any additional horrific attacks on the U.S."

NORAD is a joint surveillance venture between the United States and Canada charged with aerospace warning, air sovereignty and defense. The command was formed in 1958 in the age of the Cold War. Because of its dual nature, the command reports both to the president of the United States and the Canadian prime minister.