Exercise Northern Strike is a military readiness exercise hosted annually at Michigan National Guard facilities, including the Alpena CRTC,

Camp Grayling Camp Grayling is a military training facility located near Grayling, Michigan, United States, primarily in Crawford County, and spread over three counties. Camp Grayling is the main training facility for the Michigan National Guard and is the l ...

Joint Maneuver Training Center, Grayling Aerial Gunnery Range, the Carmeuse Calcite Quarry in Rogers City, the former site of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base as well as over the skies of northern Michigan and

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. The air operations will take place at

Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center is a Michigan Air National Guard training facility. It is located west-northwest of Alpena, Michigan. Overview The Alpena CRTC is a year-round training facility. It provides premier support, facili ...

(ACRTC) & use the Grayling Air Gunnery Range, while live-fire exercises involving small arms, mortars, artillery and aerial munitions will take place at the Camp Grayling range complex. Simulated-fire phases utilise the Carmeuse Calcite Quarry area during Exercise Northern Strike. Northern Strike is one of the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

's largest annual joint, reserve component readiness exercise. The exercise is sponsored by the National Guard Bureau.

History

Exercise Northern Strike began in 2011 with 500 participants engaged to over 6000 soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines taking part Northern Strike 2019. The three week exercise usually takes place in July or August each year. Northern Strike's primary mission is (C.A.S.)

close air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires ...

, with secondary missions including air interdiction, airlift and airdrop,

combat search and rescue Combat search and rescue (CSAR) are search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. A CSAR mission may be carried out by a task force of helicopters, ground-attack aircraft, aerial refueling ta ...

, air-to-air refueling and intelligence, and both air and ground surveillance and reconnaissance. In January 2020, an additional arctic weather training exercise called Winter Strike was introduced. The first exercise lasted seven days, but the January session was expanded to ten days in subsequent years.

Aerial Phase

Alpena CRTC is the focal point of air operations during Northern Strike. Fixed wing aircraft that frequently participate include the A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-16C Fighting Falcon, C-130 Hercules, MQ-9 Reaper, KC-135 Stratotanker, E-8C Joint STARS, F-18E/F, and EA-18. Rotary wing participates, including the UH-60 Blackhawk, AH-64 Apache, AH-1W Super Cobra, CH-47 Chinook, and the UH-1Y Venom/Super Huey. Live and inert ordnance is expended on the Grayling Air Gunnery Range during the exercise. Rockets, aircraft cannon fire, live guided/unguided bombs up to 500lb and 2000lb inert bombs in size can be used on the range. For 2021, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 354th Fighter Squadron and the Michigan Air National Guard's 127th Wing along with two C-146A Wolfhounds from the Air Force Special Operations Command participated in the exercise. The aircraft landed on state highway M-32 as part of Northern Strike 21, a large-scale training exercise, in Alpena, Michigan. This was the first ever use of a

Highway strip A road runway or road base or highway airstrip (US), is a section of an automotive public road, highway, Controlled-access highway, motorway, or similar, that is specially built (or adapted) to act as a runway for (primarily) military aircraft, ...

on US soil.

Ground Phase

The majority of the ground phase of Exercise Northern Strike takes place on the 147,000 acres of the

Joint Maneuver Training Center. The largest National Guard training center in the country. Camp Grayling is the largest open airspace for training east of the Mississippi River. 2016 saw the start of a major amphibious landing exercise being added to Northern Strike conducted by

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Forces on Lake Margrethe at Camp Grayling. Northern Strike 2017 saw more than 30

Joint Terminal Attack Controller Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) is the term used in the United States Armed Forces and some other military forces for a qualified service member who directs the action of military aircraft engaged in close air support and other offensive ...

s (JTACs) from around the globe take part. JTACs use specialized equipment to direct combat aircraft engaged in close air support and other offensive air operations from a forward observation position. Sometimes JTACs direct defensive air power for rescue evacuations. They are also called

Forward Air Controller Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

s (FACs) and usually work with

Joint Fires Observer Forward observers in the U.S. military are artillery observers who carry the Military Occupational Specialty designator of ''13F'' in the United States Army and ''0861'' in the United States Marine Corps. They are officially called "joint fire sup ...

s (JFOs) who assist with tracking and location identification. On July 18, 2019, during Northern Strike 2019 saw the first time a remotely-piloted

MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomi ...

took off and landed in Michigan airspace. The MQ-9 "Reaper" from the 214th Attack Group,

Arizona Air National Guard The Arizona Air National Guard (AZ ANG) is the aerial militia of the Arizona, state of Arizona, United States, United States of America. It is, along with the Arizona Army National Guard, an element of the Arizona National Guard. As state militia ...

was operating from the

. MQ-9 "Reapers" used in previous Northern Strike exercises had been flown from their home base. Greater emphasis has been put on medical and aeromedical procedures in recent Northern Strike. This includes setting up a mobile patient staging area from the ground up, loading, unloading and in-flight care of patients. Combat Search and Rescue and the treatment of injured aircrew is regularly practiced during Northern Strike exercises. Patient resuscitation is a key skill practiced by personnel while attending Northern Strike.

International Participants

Troops from the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Estonia, Jordan, Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

) have participated in previous Northern Strike exercises.

Gallery

References

External links

Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center Official site
{{US military navbox United States Air Force exercises United States Army exercises Military in Michigan Michigan Army National Guard National Guard (United States) Articles containing video clips