Fighter jets taking over Puget Sound skies on Thursday

Puget Sound residents and people on the Olympic Peninsula may be surprised to see fighter jets in the skies on Thursday.

But the action is just an exercise being conducted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

The planes will be practicing intercept and identification procedures.

“We continually conduct these exercises in a variety of scenarios where we test aerospace restriction violations, hijacks, or respond to just unknown aircraft,” said Lt. Commander Bill Lewis, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

NORAD says all the exercises are planned and closely controlled.