Which sector is the largest with area west of the Mississippi River?

• A. Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS)
• B. National Capital Region (NCR)
• C. Western Air Defense Sector (WADS)
• D. Joint Air Defense Operations Center (JADOC)

Answer: (C)

Air defense is organized into sectors that manage radar coverage, interceptor coordination, and command-and-control for a specific geographic area. The western half of the United States covers a much larger land area than the eastern half, so the Western Air Defense Sector oversees a bigger swath of territory and airspace than the Eastern Air Defense Sector. The National Capital Region is a relatively small area around Washington, DC, and the Joint Air Defense Operations Center is a central coordinating hub rather than a geographic sector. Because of the size of the western region, the Western Air Defense Sector is the largest area west of the Mississippi.