McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey is gaining Navy and Marine Corps aircraft from the BRAC-divestiture of NAS JRB Willow Grove, including the relatively noisy CH-53E helicopter, however, Kirk Moore of the Courier-Post reports that base advocates say the noise level will go down. How so? The Air Force has retired one of its worst noise offenders, the C-141, and stationed the new—and much quieter—C-17 at McGuire. And, the service plans to oust the old E model KC-135 tankers of the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108th Air Refueling Wing in favor of newer—and quieter—R models. None of this is really news, but it’s an interesting take on the airplane shuffle.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
