Military alliances

A military alliance is an agreement between two, or more, military factions; related to wartime planning, commitments, or contingencies; such agreements can be both defensive and offensive. Military alliances often involve non-military agreements, in addition to their primary purpose.

NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance formed by North American and European countries. It was established after World War II to counteract the threat posed by the Soviet Union and other Communist states, with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. The original member states were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, and Portugal. Following the end of the Cold War, the former Eastern Bloc countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the alliance. NATO's role is to ensure the security of its member countries by political and military means, operating as a peacekeeping organization in various conflicts.

In 1995, NATO forces launched a massive aerial bombardment against Outer Heaven, shortly after the conclusion of Operation Intrude N313, to ensure the destruction of any remaining nuclear weapons. However, many war orphans and refugees were killed in the bombing, regardless of their ties to the regime or not, though the multinational forces deemed this as an acceptable loss as they were considered a liability. The truth was hidden from the media, and very few people ever learned of what really happened.

NORAD
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of the United States and Canadian militaries that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Its headquarters is within the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base at Colorado, and was formed in 1958, although NORAD's directorate headquarters was built in 1961. It also possessed a program since 1955 called NORAD Tracks Santa, which was started by accident after a SEARS flier printed NORAD's phone number rather than the SEARS number by mistake.

On November 23, 1974, the CIA Station Chief of Central America and Peace Sentinel leader, Hot Coldman, activated the Peace Walker AI weapon, which transmitted false data of a Soviet attack on America to NORAD. NORAD relayed the data to the Pentagon, placing the U.S. military on high alert and forcing them to consider a retaliatory nuclear strike. Even after Peace Walker was rendered incapable of launching a nuclear strike, NORAD still continued to receive the false data, until the AI eventually destroyed itself.

Behind the scenes
In the user's manual for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, it was stated that FOXHOUND was unit under NATO, formed in the 1990s. However, this has been retconned since Metal Gear Solid, in which FOXHOUND was instead labelled as a U.S. Army special forces unit.