The S.C. Air National Guard will conduct air defense exercises today over Florence, Marion and Pageland.

Fighter jets of the 169th Fighter Wing, based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover, will be escorting a single-engine aircraft belonging to the S.C. Civil Air Patrol, as part of the routine exercise.

The exercise is associated with the Guard’s Aerospace Control Alert mission. The new mission makes the McEntire unit a component to respond to airborne threats over the United States. A similar exercise is planned Monday.

-- Jeff Wilkinson