A Recognized Air Picture or RAP is a (theoretically) complete listing of all aircraft in flight within a particular airspace, with each aircraft being identified as friendly or hostile, and ideally containing additional information such as type of aircraft, flight number, and flight plan. The information may be drawn from a number of different sources, including military radar, civilian air traffic controllers, and allied nations or multi-national organizations such as NATO.
For the United States and Canada, the Recognized Air Picture is maintained continuously by NORAD at Peterson Air Force Base (with Cheyenne Mountain as a warm standby). In the United Kingdom, it is maintained by the United Kingdom Combined Air Operations Centre at RAF Air Command at RAF High Wycombe. For the rest of Europe, NATO has an Air Command and Control System program underway to unify the various systems in use by NATO members throughout Europe.
Famous quotes containing the words recognized, air and/or picture:
“Every new development for the last three centuries has brought men closer to a state of affairs in which absolutely nothing would be recognized in the whole world as possessing a claim to obedience except the authority of the State. The majority of people in Europe obey nothing else.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“They may bring their fattest cattle and richest fruits to the fair, but they are all eclipsed by the show of men. These are stirring autumn days, when men sweep by in crowds, amid the rustle of leaves like migrating finches; this is the true harvest of the year, when the air is but the breath of men, and the rustling of leaves is as the trampling of the crowd.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Acting is the physical representation of a mental picture and the projection of an emotional concept.”
—Laurette Taylor (1887–1946)