Military air defense command NORAD tracks Santa in annual tradition

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
Military air defense command NORAD tracks Santa in annual tradition

Nearly 1,000 volunteers cycled through the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center on Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, between 04:00 and 22:00 Dec. 24, 2022. Volunteers providing updated information on Santa's location and gifts delivered worked in two-hour shifts answering phone calls from children and adults located around the globe. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/Chuck Marsh

Dec. 24 (ZFJ) — NORAD, with 68 years of experience following Santa, is once again tracking the jolly good man.

Anyone interested can view Santa’s location on noradsanta.org or call in to the North American Aerospace Defense Command at 1-877-HI-NORAD. If they can’t reach a human on the line due to the volume of calls, they’ll receive an automated message reporting Santa’s position and a reminder to call back later to talk to someone.

The NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center is based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where over 1,500 volunteers, some of whom know multiple languages, stand ready to field calls from around the world between 06:00 Dec. 24, to 02:00 Dec. 25, eastern time.

“We have volunteers from personnel in the command, their families, some of our community partners and commercial contributors, as well as some folks from around the world who volunteered to come help us,” said Colonel Elizabeth Mathias, NORAD director of public affairs. ”It’s a bit of a bucket list item for some folks.”

The Santa tracking tradition began in 1955 when a child dialed a misprinted phone number from a department store advertisement in a local newspaper. The call went to the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD’s predecessor.

Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup, the on-duty commander at the operations center, realized that the call was a mistake but assured the caller that he was indeed Santa. He then instructed his personnel to monitor the radar for Santa’s location.

A view of NORAD Tracks Santa on Christmas Eve, 2023, at 21:42 EST, showing the sleigh heading to La Paz, Bolivia. ZFJ/Akira Rorschach A view of NORAD Tracks Santa on Christmas Eve, 2023, at 21:42 EST, showing the sleigh heading to La Paz, Bolivia. ZFJ/Akira Rorschach

Some curious civilians are left wondering how exactly NORAD does track Santa.

“Santa doesn’t file a flight plan with NORAD, but the great part is that we are able to use the same technology we use every single day to keep North America safe, to track Santa on December 24,” said Mathias.

North Warning System radars, of which 47 are arrayed across Northern Alaska and Northern Canada, first pick up Santa as he departs the North Pole.

Satellite-based infrared sensors then follow light from Rudolph’s red nose as the sleigh travels around the world.

Once Santa approaches North American airspace, NORAD aircraft—F-16s, F-22s, F-35s, and Canadian CF-18s—intercept and escort him to finish his flight safely.

“NORAD doesn’t know all of the specifics of how Santa conducts his flight, but we do have a great intelligence estimate of his sleigh’s capabilities that you can find on our website with some great specs of at least how it travels,” said Mathias.

“I don’t know yet if he’s using AI,” she added. “I’ll be curious if our assessment of his flight this year shows us some advanced capabilities, but I do know that because we’ve been tracking him every year for 68 years, we’re able to adapt our algorithms to make sure that we do identify him as a known.”

According to NORAD, Santa usually begins his journey at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west. So, in order, he visits the South Pacific, then New Zealand and Australia, next Japan, Asia, Africa, Western Europe, Canada, the United States, Mexico, and finally Central and South America. His route is subject to change as a result of the weather.

NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa functions within his own space-time continuum. In other words, while to us, his trip takes 24 hours, to him, it lasts substantially longer—days, weeks, or even months.

NORAD is a binational military command responsible for airspace sovereignty and defense for the U.S. and Canada. It constantly monitors the air for possible threats with its North Warning System radars, satellites, and jet fighter assets.

While the grinches over at the Associated Press say that they cannot independently verify NORAD’s findings regarding Santa, the ZFJ can assure readers that it has confirmed every detail with 100% certainty. That being said, there is still a lot the military doesn’t know about Santa.

“We still don’t know how someone who’s about 260 pounds can get down any chimney, but again, that’s the magic of Santa Claus and kind of the spirit of Christmas,” said U.S. Army Major General Allen Pepin.

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