Middle atmosphere dynamics and small scale disturbances like gravity waves (GW) are identified as major impactors of the detection capability of the International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound network of the Comprehensive test ban Treaty (CTBT). One way to assess models and improve them is by using infrasound technology to perform propagation simulations and to compare with infrasound observations. Long-term infrasound dataset available in the framework of the CTBT provide unique constraints that complement well high-resolution but limited dataset of ground-based remote sensing instruments, as demonstrated over the course of the CEA-led European ARISE project (http://arise-project.eu/) (Blanc et al. 2018). The ICON model, jointly developed by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and by the German Meteorological Service (DWD), is a non-hydrostatic numerical weather prediction and research model that has recently been extended to the MA, and up to 150 km (Borchert et al. 2019). Additionally, recent work undertaken by the Goethe University Frankfurt (GUF) has also developed a unique GW parameterization (Bölöni et al. 2016, 2020; Kim et al. 2020) that accounts for transient interactions between GW and the mean flow, currently overlooked by more traditional parameterizations. Both aspects make ICON be a model of high interest to perform propagation simulation and using infrasound observations, which largely depend on the MA dynamics.