Northern Strike 26-1 set for Northern Michigan Winter

LANSING, Mich. - Northern Strike (NS) 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, 2026. NS 26-1 is part of the semi-annual exercise series, which includes NS 26-2, scheduled for this August.

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

NS is a Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) 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. "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 NS 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 Col. Todd Fitzpatrick. "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."