[Dept. of Defense] – The North American Aerospace Defense Command has informed the Defense Department that every indication is that Santa Claus will arrive on time this year to deliver presents to the world’s estimated 1.9 billion children, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said Friday.

NORAD is tuning up the Santa-tracking system, a joint U.S.-Canadian effort to ensure Santa’s annual worldwide Christmas Eve journey goes smoothly.

Santa Website in Countdown Mode

The NORAD Tracks Santa website is counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Santa departs on his flying-reindeer-powered global flight.

“In the cyber domain, they tell me that their anti-Grinch firewall is up and monitoring for threats, and they are confident that the AGFW … can defeat any malicious attacks,” the admiral told reporters at the Pentagon.

Multiple Domains of Santa Surveillance

In the land domain, NORAD has verified the load-bearing capacity of all rooftops that the reindeer will land on, he said.

“In the maritime domain, they say that Aegis radars are calibrated to track Santa and ships are standing by to conduct any lost gift rescue operations, if necessary,” Kirby continued.

In the missile domain, NORAD’s radars can detect any and all objects traveling through North American airspace and its approaches, he said.

“In the space domain, our infrared detecting satellites are calibrated to see Rudolph’s nose,” the admiral said.

Santa Gets NORAD Aircraft Escort

And in the air domain, Kirby said, NORAD reports that aircraft assigned to its Canadian and U.S. regions are ready to escort Santa when he enters North American airspace.

“Through our coordination with the FAA and NAV-CANADA, we can confirm that North American airspace is safe for sleigh travel,” the admiral said.

“I can tell you, it sounds to me like they are very ready for Santa,” Kirby said.