Eastern Air Defense Sector

The Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is headquartered at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, New York, at the site of the former Griffiss Air Force Base. The unit was organized as the 4621st Air Defense Wing on 1 April 1956 and redesignated as the New York Air Defense Sector (NYADS) on 1 October 1956. Based at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, until 1968, the sector managed the initial installation of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense system in 1958. NYADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966. On 1 July 1987, the unit was reactivated as the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) at Griffiss Air Force Base. The New York Air National Guard assumed responsibility for the sector in December 1994. Following the consolidation of the Northeast and Southeast Air Defense Sectors in 2005, the unit was redesignated as EADS on 15 July 2009.

EADS is a joint bi-national organization composed of United States and Canadian military forces, federal civilians, and contractors. It is a subordinate command of the First Air Force and is assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The mission consists of the detection, warning, and tactical control of air defense forces within its assigned area of operations. The 224th Air Defense Group of the New York Air National Guard provides the unit's primary force. EADS operates two detachments in the National Capital Region: Detachment 1 at the Joint Air Defense Operations Center at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and Detachment 2 at the National Capital Region Coordination Center in Herndon, Virginia.

Operational facilities include a Battle Control Center in Rome and coordination centers for the Integrated Air Defense System in the Washington, D.C. area. The sector maintains operational command and control over multiple Air National Guard fighter units operating squadrons of F-15C/D, F-16C/D/CM/DM, F-22A, and F-35 Lightning II aircraft. These include the 187th, 113th, 125th, 159th, 104th, 148th, 177th, 180th, 169th, 158th, 192nd, and 115th Fighter Wings.