Military Exercise taking place at 4 Wing Cold Lake

Photo : Cplc PJ Letourneau, Caméra de combat des Forces canadiennes

Public Service Announcement

September 7, 2021 – Cold Lake, AB

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) will be conducting an exercise based out of 4 Wing from September 9 to October 14, 2021. The exercise will allow mutually beneficial training for USMC, 4 Wing squadrons, 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron (from Edmonton) and personnel from Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

While the exercise flights will be conducted over the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and at high altitudes where the public is not likely to hear or see them, there will be increased aircraft activity at Cold Lake involving aircraft not typically seen at 4 Wing. The exercise will also include a number of night missions, and although 4 Wing always avoids unnecessary overflight of the City of Cold Lake, strong winds or certain situations may necessitate occasional routes which pass directly over the City during the landing or takeoff phase of flight.

During the exercise, a layered COVID-19 risk mitigation procedure will be employed which will strictly limit contact with the local population to the greatest extent possible in order to reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19 for exercise participants and members of local communities. All participating military personnel will reside on base and follow established mitigation protocols, such as mask wearing, frequent cleaning of surfaces and other PPE use as appropriate.

Participating U.S. military personnel have a high vaccination rate and will require two negative COVID-19 tests, separated by a minimum of 5 days, prior to arriving in Canada. All exercise participants will adhere to local, Provincial, Federal and Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence guidelines, regulations and orders regarding public health measures for the duration the exercise.