Northern Strike provides rare training opportunities for 934th

  • Published
  • By Maj. Brandon Schrader
  • 934th Operations Support Squadron
ALPENA MI --  July 25, members of the 96 Airlift Squadron, 934 Operations Support Squadron and 934 Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flew to the Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) in Alpena, MI, to participate in Exercise Northern Strike.
 
Northern Strike is one of five National Guard Bureau exercises focusing on integrating both air and ground combat capability into one exercise.  C-130s from various Air Reserve Component wings flew in for one week blocks of the exercise to focus on JTAC (Joint Terminal Air Controller) directed on-call airdrops, F-16CM SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) escort, A-10 escort, and E-8 JSTARS (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) command and control integration.  The exercise combined the efforts of military personnel from Canada, Latvia, Poland, Australia, and 20 states military forces (Army and Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve).

934 Airlift Wing Airmen were provided with rare training that cannot be duplicated on home station training sorties.  Missions involved multi-ship C-130 formations to an unfamiliar operating location to check in with a JTAC for an on-call airdrop, low level routes with F-16CM escort against a formidable integrated air defense system (IADS), Dissimilar Aircraft Combat Training (DACT), and transport of the US Army's HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System). 

For many this was their first time encountering training sorties of such complexity with integrated CAF efforts.  With the relatively close proximity to the 934th, July 31 two C-130s on local training missions rendezvoused with a flight of two C-130's orbiting in central Michigan to fly a four-ship formation against an integrated air defense network with air adversaries with F-16 escort to a contested drop zone.  The exercise was successful in replicating potential missions airman could be tasked with while deployed.  The opportunity to work with the JTACs, F-16s, A-10s, and JSTARS is typically only seen in major flag exercises (Red Flag, Maple Flag, etc.).

Capt. Kyle Randolph, 96 AS co-pilot,  assessed the exercise this way,  "It was a unique opportunity to learn what CAF assets are able to contribute and how we can integrate with them to get the mission done."

Aircraft commander for the weeklong Northern Strike exercise, Capt. Dan Schei had nothing but praise for the exercise and the challenges it presented his crew. "Northern Strike was a great opportunity to gain hands on experience integrating MAF formations into a big picture scenario involving live fire shooting with the CAF aircraft.  Our crews were able to validate the loading and air transportability of the HIMARS system into and out of short airfields. Northern Strike provided the means to put the C-130 against actual fighter aircraft and radar threats to get a working feel for the effectiveness of our tactics and procedures."