airborne alert

A state of aircraft readiness wherein combat-equipped aircraft are airborne and ready for immediate action. See also fighter cover. (DOD only) It is designed to reduce reaction time and to increase survivability. See also combat air patrol; fighter cover; ground alert.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

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References in periodicals archive

Strategic Air command, at defense readiness condition two, had one-eighth of its 1,436 bombers on airborne alert while dispersing others and reducing ground-alert times.

The Cuban missile crisis: forty-five years in the balance

The airborne alert and positive control launch options (1) remain elements of US nuclear planning, however, and arrangements almost certainly continue to exist to authorize operations by armed bombers in Canadian airspace during crisis or wartime.

Canada's connections to nuclear weapons: as recently as the mid-1980s, secret agreements reportedly existed to permit the dispersal of armed US bombers to Canadian airfields during crisis or wartime

When a request is received it is imperative that the aircraft quickly respond from either an airborne alert or strip alert status.

Marine Corps Harriers: Expeditionary firepower from the sea

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