Northern Edge 23-1

Gostar den Daas | May 2023

Joined US exercise held in Alaska

Northern Edge is a huge joint exercise taking place in Alaska from 4 till 19 may. It’s a combined exercise with all US forces joining and for the first time some allies (UK and Australia) attend as well. What makes this edition exiting is the participation of the “retired” F-117 Nighthawk.

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MilitaryAlaskaSkunk WorksMilitary exerciseUSAF

The exercise consists of US land, sea, air and cyber-force, with thousands of service men and women participating. For the first time ever, the UK and Australia also participate. Main operation area is the joint Pacific-Alaska range (JPARC) and the Gulf of Alaska, with over 150 aircraft and 5 ships joining the exercise.

Main base of operations are Eielson and Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base and Anchorage Ted Stevens and Fairbanks as support fields.

Looking at the flying component, the F-117 participation was the biggest surprise. As its retired since 2008 is not your obvious participator. Although it’s more in “the open” now a days, this is the biggest exercise. In 2021, the F-117 was deployed to Fresno joining a local exercise flying together with F-15s. This time it’s unclear why the Night Hawk participates as it has similar stealth characteristics as the F-35 also joining in big numbers.

Besides the F-117 (at least 2 aircraft, 84-0811 same as Fresno) also interesting was the presence of the F-15EX (20-0002/OT) and the Navy EF-18G with the new AN/ALQ-249 jammers. Also VX-9 F/A-18F (166673) “Vandy 1” and the Raytheon B727 testbed (N289MT) were seen.