The Montana Air National Guard’s 120th Fighter Wing at Great Falls has a spokesman talking with area residents, trying to respond to their concerns about the unit’s switch from F-16s to F-15s. The Great Falls Tribune reports that the word is more noise, but not significantly more. The arrival of the first F-15s is about a year off, but apparently area residents are voicing their concerns now that the two-engine F-15 will make twice the noise of the single-engine F-16. Not so, says Maj. Rick Anderson, an ANG public affairs officer. He says, “The F-15 will be somewhat louder, but no where near twice as noisy.”
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.