Civil Air Patrol pilots from across the Michigan Wing took to the skies above the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in support of Northern Strike 2025, participating in MQ-9 launch and recovery operations, expeditionary air traffic control training, and target exercises.
Operation Northern Strike, hosted annually by the Michigan National Guard and the National Guard Bureau, is the Department of Defense’s premier joint, reserve-component readiness exercise. Army and Air National Guard elements, active-duty service branches, and coalition partners are involved, with academia and industry providing technical support.
During the roughly two-week exercise, Michigan Wing pilots conducted chase-aircraft missions, escorting a remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper into and out of restricted airspace. Their role, as mandated by Federal Aviation Administration regulations, was to maintain visual contact with the RPA and ensure safe separation from other traffic.
The pilots also served as targets of interest, simulating potentially hostile inbound aerial threats requiring response from F-16 fighter jets, and conducted landing operations at a remote airfield to assist in training military air traffic controllers.
“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,” said Lt. Col. Paul Kloehn of the Maj. Kevin A. Adams Composite Squadron, project officer for Northern Strike.
“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,” Kloehn said._____2nd Lt. Linda AubuchonPublic Affairs OfficerMaj. Kevin A. Adams Composite SquadronMichigan Wing
