Ebbing Air National Guard Base exercise brings F-35s to Fort Smith [Video]

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — If you live in Fort Smith, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the roar of F-35 fighter jets taking off from Ebbing Air National Guard Base.

Pilots are in town for an “agile combat employment (ACE) exercise” that showcases the base’s capability to support F-35 operations before Polish pilots come to train on the jets in December.

“It’s much like an airliner that you would hear in a building and what we expect to do is maintain that relationship with the community and the stuff that we do to keep the noise at a minimal level so that we’re not interrupting stuff in town,” Col. Nick Ihde with the 85th Fighter Group Commander said.

Geffken says noise is biggest concern for proposed military compatibility area overlay district in Fort Smith

The foreign military sales program will bring hundreds of Polish military members and their families to the river valley.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says it will result in …