LANSING – Northern Strike 25-2, one of the Department of Defense’s largest reserve component readiness exercises, is scheduled to take place across Michigan from August 2 to 16.

Over 7,500 participants from 36 states and territories and nine international partners will converge at Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center (NADWC) for training focused on Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercise, Cyberspace and Electromagnetic Activities, Defensive Cyberspace Operations, contested sustainment and logistics and expeditionary skills.

This year’s exercise will incorporate training scenarios involving homeland security and defense against unmanned aerial systems including more than 30 fixed wing aircraft offering force protection, support and refueling operations. The En-Route Patient Staging System will prepare injured patients for transport to a safe location through Aeromedical Evacuation all while specially trained medics provide medical care. Additionally, maritime training scenarios will focus on protecting high-value assets, conducting freedom of navigation operations, integrating unmanned undersea vehicles, as well as fixing, tracking and engaging targets within open water environments. The Joint Personnel Recovery Agency will integrate with training units to test newly developed combat search, rescue and recovery systems during the exercise.

Northern Strike is the premier reserve component training event designed to build readiness with joint and partner forces in all domains of warfare. The NADWC encompasses the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center (CGJMTC), the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center (Alpena CRTC) and their associated airspace. Northern Strike participants are also conducting training in Lake Huron, Rogers City Quarry, Battle Creek, Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airfield and K.I. Sawyer Airfield in Marquette.

“This year’s schedule of NS training events reflects the unique capabilities of Michigan and the NADWC to support Department of Defense objectives,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. “We take pride in continuously improving exercise design by integrating innovative technologies, including the testing and evaluation of counter-UAS systems, into dynamic, multi-domain training that meets the evolving needs of commanders across the force.”

The Michigan National Guard (MING) began hosting NS in 2012 and it has since grown into a joint, multi-national exercise program. The exercise provides participating units with a chance to conduct robust and relevant scenario-based, full-spectrum readiness training and complete mission essential tasks. NS is a tailorable, scalable and cost-effective readiness producer, providing a venue for units to maximize training proficiencies and requirements. The exercise is Army National Guard sponsored and a Joint National Training Capability accredited exercise providing readiness-building opportunities for all services.

“NS is unique, not only because of its integration of defense innovators and academia, but because it fully reflects the realities service members are facing on today’s modern battlefield,” said Col. Todd Fitzpatrick, land exercise director for NS. “This year’s exercise features full-scale integration with foreign participants to build ally and partner interoperability and is designed to enhance readiness across all domains of warfare with both joint and partner forces. Recent global events have shown just how devastating cruise missiles and small UAS can be to both military and civilian infrastructure. Detection, identification, intercept and destruction of these threats are no-fail missions and NS provides the operational environment to rigorously train for them.”

In addition to enhancing our nation’s defense capabilities, the exercise series also serves as an important boost to the local economy. It brings an average of $38 million to Michigan’s economy annually in military pay, travel and local spending in northern lower Michigan.

The public should note there will be increased traffic on Michigan roads on Aug. 2 and 16 as personnel are traveling to and from Grayling. There will also be a variety of aircraft taking part in the exercise with aircraft visible to the naked eye throughout Michigan’s lower peninsula.