Santa’s journey to deliver gifts to children around the world began on Sunday under the watchful eye of the US military, which for decades has tracked the movements of the man in red every December 24, AFP reports.

Departing from its base at the North Pole, the sled flew over Jakarta at 15:38 GMT, according to a statement from the United States-Canada Aerospace Defense Command (Norad).

It’s even faster than the US Air Force F-15, but “it slows down so we can keep up with it,” says Norad, after Santa Claus has already delivered more than a billion and a half presents in Oceania and Asia.

The command says tracking is possible using sensors in the red nose of Rudolph, one of nine reindeer pulling the sled.

NORAD has tracked Santa’s route for decades, but it started with a mistake

NORAD has been on Santa’s trail since 1955, when a Colorado Springs newspaper misprinted the phone number of a local convenience store for children wanting to call and talk to Santa, mistakenly publishing the number for what was then called the Continental Air Defense Command.

The officer on duty, Col. Harry Shoup, took the calls and assured the children that Santa, also known as Kris Kringle or St. Nicholas, knew about their wish lists and was on his way.

He instructed his men to relay information about Santa’s location and even called a local radio station to report that he had seen a strange object in the sky.

Fans of Santa Claus can see where he is in real timenoradsanta.org or through various social media platforms, or they can call a dedicated NORAD-sponsored phone line to speak to a live operator.