Courtesy photo Leadership from the Wisconsin National Guard, including Maj. Gen. Paul E. Knapp, Wisconsin's Adjutant General, visited soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery and 132nd Brigade Support Battalion, both a part of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, during Northern Strike 23-1 on Jan. 25 in Camp Grayling, Mich. Northern Strike is a winter exercise hosted by the Michigan National Guard, and took place at Northern Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center from Jan. 20-29.

LANSING – Northern Strike 26-1, this years’ winter exercise hosted by the Michigan National Guard (MING), is scheduled to take place across Northern Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center (NADWC) Jan. 26-29, according to a Thursday press release. Northern Strike 26-1 is part of the semi-annual exercise series, which includes Northern Strike 26-2, scheduled for this August.

“For a decade, Northern Strike has been critical to preparing our reserve component forces as a lethal, combat-ready force,” said Col. Todd Fitzpatrick, land exercise director for Northern Strike in the press release. “This sixth cold-weather iteration underscores our commitment to training in severe environments, and as our national defense strategy changes, Northern Strike continues to evolve alongside it.”

Northern Strike is a Joint National Training Capability accredited, Army sponsored, National Guard Bureau program. The exercise is tailorable, scalable and a cost-effective readiness producer. Participants will brave the cold-weather conditions, while training to meet objectives of the Department of War’s (DoW) arctic strategy.

“Wind, snow and single-digit temperatures challenge units to adapt and overcome conditions they could face in conflict with a near-peer threat,” said Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, according to the press release. “With temperatures at Camp Grayling historically colder than Alaska, this exercise remains one of the most demanding cold-weather training opportunities in the nation.”

The NADWC, which includes Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC), offers a cost-effective way for units across the DoW (particularly reserve components) to experience cold-weather, joint all-domain operations. The ability to easily transport people and equipment to Camp Grayling via rail and roadway helps units save time, money and training days. Air component units can fly to Alpena CRTC without leaving U.S. air space.

Participating units will include elements from the U.S. Army National Guard, U.S. Air National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Army.

The winter iteration of Northern Strike reflects broader shifts in the U.S. national-defense strategy toward large-scale combat operations, contested domains and operations in extreme climates. Compared to previous versions, the exercise now places greater emphasis on distributed operations, command and control in degraded environments and integration across all domains rather than platform-specific training. This year’s exercise includes emerging technologies and tactics such as operating in contested electromagnetic environments; resilience of communications and command systems; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response fundamentals; and integration of cyber-enabled effects into conventional operations.

“Through our Camp Grayling partners, the availability of cold-weather equipment has made this exercise more adaptable,” said Fitzpatrick in the press release. “Pre-positioning critical resources reduces logistical friction and allows units to focus on warfighting execution. The objective is to deliver the tools units need to remain lethal and ready in an increasingly complex security environment.”