Northern Lightning 2023
Operation Northern Lighting was held from August 7th to 18th this year at Volk Field in Camp Douglas, Wisconsin. Volk is one of the four Combat Readiness Training Centers in the entire country that consistently proves its worth year after year. This year, more than 1,000 participants, along with 60 aircraft, are representing units from across the country, including Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Minnesota, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Northern Lighting emphasizes user-defined objectives, resulting in tailored, scenario-based, full-spectrum, high-end training to maintain air dominance.
Volk has an airspace training corridor measuring 55 miles by 200 miles, up to 50,000 feet, which makes air-to-air threat training appear easy. The "aggressors" this year included a mix of aircraft, including the T38 Talon from Langley Air Force Base, F1 Mirages from ATAC, F16s from Top Aces, and the exclusive F117 Nighthawk, along with some F35s playing a dual role. The F35s, both the A variant from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and Turax Field in Madison, Wisconsin, and the B variant from MCAS Yuma, provided protection to the non-stealthy F16s from Duluth and Toledo, which can carry a heavier munitions load to mock enemy targets.
This year's main focus was training for a Pacific conflict, which was clearly evident throughout the two weeks at Volk."
Check out more photos below!
