Premier Annual Joint Reserve Exercise Hosted By National Guard

Pilots from the Michigan Wing of the Civil Air Patrol participated in Northern Strike 2025, an annual exercise held at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center at the Alpena County Regional Airport (KAPN), focused this year on MQ-9 launch and recovery operations, expeditionary air traffic control training, and targeting exercises.

The event was hosted by the Michigan National Guard and the National Guard Bureau as the Department of Defense’s premier exercise for joint reserve-component readiness. Army and Air National Guard elements, active-duty service branches, and coalition partners all participated along with academia and industry for technical support.

The exercise lasted approximately two weeks, during which Michigan Wing pilots performed chase-aircraft missions escorting a remotely-piloted MQ-9 Reaper into and out of restricted airspace. As mandated by the FAA, the pilots were responsible for maintaining visual contact with Reaper to ensure safe separation from other exercise aircraft and non-involved traffic.

Wing pilots also served as targets of interest by simulating potentially hostile inbound aerial threats that required response by F-16 fighter jets. In addition, they conducted landings at remote airfields to help train military air traffic controllers.

Lt. Col. Paul Kloehn of the Maj. Kevin A. Adams Composite Squadron, project officer for Northern Strike said, “Over the course of two weeks, 11 of our pilots dedicated a week of their time to fly sorties that provided valuable training for visiting military units from across the country.”

“This isn’t a normal, everyday mission for CAP. We stay on base, attend all the briefings, and fly our planes off the same ramp as the fighters, helicopter, and cargo planes,” he said.

FMI:  www.cap.news/