TRANSCRIPT:
For the past 70 years, staff at the North American Aerospace Defence Command – or NORAD - in Colorado Springs have had a very important task.
Normally they're scanning the skies on matters of national security but at Christmas, the staff at Peterson Space Force Base turn their attention to Santa.
NORAD spokeswoman Colonel Kelly Frushour says Santa is of course no threat.
It's just that the same combination of radar, satellites and jets that help NORAD carry out its mission throughout the year make it capable of tracking Santa.
"NORAD tracks Santa using the same capabilities that we use 24-7 to keep the avenues of approach to North America safe. It’s a combination of radars, satellites and fighter jets."
Captain Alex Werden is one of the NORAD program managers.
"We’re just happy that we’re able to track them every single year. And the pilots that get to see them, they’re lucky."
But that's not all.
The Colonel says there's also a hotline to answer callers' questions about Santa's mission - and Michelle Martin is one of the NORAD planners for the Christmas call centre.
"It’s kind of funny because I don’t think you ever really know who to expect on the other end of the line. Like I said, sometimes it could be a British pub and everybody’s going wild and there’s dozens of people in the background cracking up and having fun and asking us silly questions. And then all the way to a child maybe in hospital with their parent wondering if Santa’s still going to stop by because they’re in a hospital with their parents."
Colonel Frushour says it all began seven decades ago when - legend has it - one child called the combat operations centre.
"70 years ago one young child accidentally dialled the predecessor of NORAD, which was the Continental Air Defense Command. And the colonel who answered the phone heard a child asking him, ‘where is Santa Claus?’ And the Colonel realised, well, we track everything over North America, and so we absolutely can see where Santa Claus is. We normally just track threats. But he looked up where Santa was and reported it to the child, and then our tradition was born."
For the first time this year, Santa seekers can place a call through the program’s website, which organisers say will be easier for people outside North America.
Michelle Martin says the website allows people to follow Santa’s journey in nine languages, including English and Japanese.
"There’s nothing more special than a child’s eyes lighting up or a child just feeling pure joy about something that they believe in, and it’s a do-good thing. And so I think just hearing little kids laugh and giggle and ask silly questions, it’s just, it’s fun. And so if we could bring that joy to them in some way, shape or form, then I think we did our job."
While NORAD is based in North America and can follow Santa everywhere, it has helpers in Australia.
Air Services Australia spokesperson Laura Willard has told Channel 9 they have the responsibility of tracking Santa in the local region.
"Air Services is Australia's official Santa flight management team... We'll be giving Santa his pre-departure clearance with the call sign RED-ONE. There'll be no delays, just smooth sleighing all the way... RED-ONE will be entering Australian airspace over Norfolk Island, zig-zagging across the country, and vacating around the Cocos Islands at sunrise."
Meanwhile back in the United States, the NORAD hotline is already receiving plenty of calls.
Michelle Martin says more than a thousand volunteers are manning the phones this Christmas Eve.
And she says they plan to continue the tradition as long as possible.
"We tell them, yes, as long as the joy and the belief of Santa is in your heart, you know, and that’s where he’s at, then he’s going to come.”
