22nd Air Task Force gears up for Northern Strike, a large-scale joint training exercise

Published Aug. 5, 2025
By Airman 1st Class Megan Delaine
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

BATTLE CREEK AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. --

deployment training — U.S. Airmen from various installations assigned to the 22nd Air Task Force (ATF) arrive at the in-processing auditorium in preparation for Exercise Northern Strike 25-2 (NS 25-2) at Fort Custer, Michigan, Aug. 3, 2025. Participants received briefings on exercise objectives, operational expectations, logistical arrangements and key coordination points to ensure a unified approach throughout NS 25-2. Northern Strike is a premier reserve component training event that focuses on joint readiness training to build interoperability and strengthen partnerships in an all-domain environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Chelsea Arana)

Amid the wetlands of Michigan’s premier military training hub, more than 300 Airmen from Beale, Fairchild and Travis Air Force Bases converge to form the 22nd Air Task Force (ATF) during Exercise Northern Strike 25-2 Aug. 4-9, 2025.

Partnering closely with the Michigan National Guard and hosted at Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, the 22nd ATF will execute operations as part of their 300-level training exercise within their AFFORGEN cycle, designed to certify its ability to deploy, establish operations, and sustain combat airpower under contested conditions. Airmen will forge ready, responsive and lethal combat formations by demonstrating learned skills in a hostile environment.

“Over the coming days, we will test our mission-essential tasks against unforgiving terrain, tight timelines, and real-world complexity,” said Col. William J. Watkins, 22nd ATF commander. “It will be uncomfortable. It will be exhausting. And it will be worth it, because victory favors the prepared, and preparation is our domain.”

Northern Strike is an annual exercise, strategically designed to integrate units across the force requiring Mission Essential Task (MET) completion. Planners incorporate these METs into a joint, scenario-based framework, enabling multiple units to simultaneously train toward their individual mission objectives. NS 25-2 demonstrates the strength of the Total Force and the Guard’s unique ability to provide world-class facilities and joint training environments.

“We’re proud to provide the coordination and infrastructure needed to ensure our Total Force partners are ready for deployable operations anywhere in the world,” said Brig. Gen. Daniel J. Kramer II, assistant adjutant general of the Michigan Air National Guard.

For the 22nd ATF, NS 25-2 serves as a proving ground for building responsive, ready and lethal units through the inspection of readiness

requirements by the National Guard Bureau, First Army and the Department of Defense, a key requirement to become an operational, combat credible force.

“Northern Strike is an opportunity for our Airmen to demonstrate the skills they’ve learned and worked together to establish, robust, defend and operate the airbase; generate combat airpower and survive and operate in a contested environment,” said Lt. Col. Harrison Gipple, 22nd ATF director of plans and integration.

The goal is for exercise participants to return to their units ready to succeed in the current and future fight armed with lessons learned, new tactics, techniques, and procedures, and realistic experience.

“This isn’t an exercise,” stated Watkins. “This is a declaration. We are not rehearsing for relevance. We are proving it.”

Airmen begin tent build-up during Exercise Northern Strike 25-2