Why America uses these mini jets to prepare for attacks

By Dean Murray via SWNS

America is preparing to combat attacks on its homeland - by flying around in minuscule planes.

The U.S. military has been pictured this month using small-scale aircraft to simulate cruise missiles.

Bizarre scenes saw retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr West McCall squeezed into a KestrelX JSX-2 microjet at a training event.

The diminutive aircraft are being used during Exercise Northern Strike 2024-2 in Michigan at the Air National Guard's (ANG) Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center.

A Michigan National Guard spokesperson said: "Cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an emerging challenge our nation’s Air Force will face in the future.

"Northern Strike (NS) 24-2 is replicating this threat with several unique platforms designed to train various skills such as: detection, identification, destruction, and command and control (C2) in a live-fly environment."

Over the course of the exercise, which runs until 17 August, Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon warplanes are training against the simulated threats, with the ANG saying "The microjets replicate threats akin to our adversary's capabilities".

Air Force Lt. Col. Nicholas Smith, of Michigan National Guard (MING), said: "One of the Air National Guard's top priorities is defending the homeland. Additionally, our Airmen expect to face similar challenges in overseas deployments.

"Northern Strike presents unique training opportunities to warfighters, allowing them to train for scenarios they’ll unlikely encounter in their normal day-to-day readiness training.

“In the past, NS has used various electronic warfare capabilities to simulate various surface threats to aircraft.

"For the first time, NS is using a combination of ANG aircraft that replicate cruise missile flight characteristics alongside microjets with small radar cross sections to simulate a wide variety of emerging threats, such as adversaries small UAS platforms.

“This type of training is exactly what ANG tacticians asked for to improve unit readiness.

"It showcases our efforts as exercise planners to build an on-demand exercise and training events based on participant desired learning objectives."

Air Force Maj Jacob, F-16 pilot with the 163rd Fighter Squadron, said: "We don’t get a lot of cruise missile training, so having an entire exercise dedicated to just that is great.

"Having the ability to integrate with smaller platforms that are tougher for the radar to see is unique."

The "unique training" is occurring during one of the National Guard’s largest exercises. The exercise incorporates approximately 6,300 personnel consisting of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Special Operations Forces, Coast Guard personnel from 31 states, one commonwealth, 11 service components and five countries.

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