Just an exercise: Low-flying defense jets soar above Homestead

No, they’re not UFOs.

If you live or work in the Homestead area, you may have heard or seen low-flying jets soaring intricately with one another.

Well, you can relax. The fighter jets are controlled by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the bi-national Canadian and American command that provides maritime warning, aerospace warning and aerospace control for Canada and the United States.

NORAD regularly does these flight exercises in Canada and the U.S. since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“In order to test responses, systems and equipment, NORAD continuously conducts exercises with a variety of scenarios, including airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responding to unknown aircraft,” according to a news release. “All NORAD exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled.”

The activity should stop by 3 p.m. Wednesday, officials say.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Just an exercise: Low-flying defense jets soar above Homestead."