Warplane lands on Michigan highway in historic training exercise, video shows
Military planes landed on a highway as part of a “large-scale” training operation in Michigan, video shows.
It was a first-of-its-kind exercise in the U.S.
The Michigan Air National Guard landed an A-10 Thunderbolt II on State Highway M-32 near Alpena on Thursday. The state shut down part of the highway to test landing on roads intended for vehicles, officials said.
“This is believed to be the first time in history that modern Air Force aircraft have intentionally landed on a civilian roadway on U.S. soil,” U.S. Air Force Col. James Rossi, Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center commander, said in a statement. “Our efforts are focused on our ability to train the warfighter in any environment across the continuum so our nation can compete, deter, and win today and tomorrow.”
The roadway and power in the area was scheduled to be shut down for five hours during the exercise. Michigan State Police helped divert traffic and joked on Twitter that “no speeding citations were issued during the exercise.”
Alpena is near Lake Huron, about 240 miles north of Detroit.
The landing operation was part of Exercise Northern Strike, a large-scale military training event. Four A-10 aircraft and two C-146 aircraft were scheduled to be landed on the highway near Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II can fly at low altitudes and has the ability to shorten takeoffs, enabling the plane to operate near front lines, according the U.S. Air Force, while the C-146 can transport small teams of 27 passengers and up to 6,000 pounds of cargo.
In 2018, the Michigan Air National Guard landed A-10s on a highway in the northern European country of Estonia for a training exercise but this was the first such landing in the U.S., officials said.
“We did it!” Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing posted on Facebook after the A-10 landing. “We made history!”
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Warplane lands on Michigan highway in historic training exercise, video shows."